Broken Arrow Business Warns Community About Electric Bill Phone Scam

A Broken Arrow business is warning others about a scam that is going around again. A manager with Lit'l Links received an automated message telling her to pay nearly $2,000 to keep their power on. 

Amber Duke usually worries about her own parents falling for scams over the phone and didn't picture herself as a potential target. "They ask me all the time about different scams and you can kind of tell when scams are happening whether it's through text messages or phone calls because there are a few things that definitely show you immediate red flags," said Duke.

She said a recent phone call at work from a 1-800 number claiming to be PSO didn't seem like a scam at first. They even gave me a phone number, a name, and an extension to call back on for immediate payment," said Duke.

PSO said these types of scams have increased since the pandemic. There are red flags to look for. PSO will never ask for payments upfront and customers will receive several notifications before cutting off service. Luckily, Duke quickly checked their account and figured their payments were up to date. "It scared me knowing that it was so close and how real it was for a scam like that and for me not to be able to detect something like that," said Duke.

She's sharing her experience as a warning to others. "A lot of the other businesses around Tulsa that would just be like hey yeah I'm in a hurry I need to get back to my customers so here's my credit card," said Duke.