New Britain Police have issued a warning to the city's Latino community.
Scammers are targeting Hispanics across the city asking for money to fix a non-existent power problem.
So far, five people have come forward to say they have been scammed out of thousands of dollars.
“Our fear is there are other folks who have become victims and have not come forward,” said Captain Thomas Steck.
According to police, the culprits call victims and claim to be from Connecticut Light & Power. In Spanish, they tell the victims a transformer is drawing too much voltage from their homes, and it could start a fire. The unsuspecting victims are told to put a sum of money on a Green Dot Prepaid Money Card to fix the supposed problem, or their power will be shut off. The homeowner is told to call a phone number and provide the person on the other end with the account number of the prepaid money card. Once the scammer has the account number, the money is withdrawn.
Investigators believe the people behind the scam were from Connecticut. They say the calls have been traced to two phone numbers, 860-665-5000, and 860-258-3000.
“Certainly we're going to investigate and make arrests where we can,” Capt. Steck said.
New Britain Police say there is a good chance the scammers are contacting people in nearby towns too. Detectives want the Hispanic Community to be on alert. They are urging anyone who gets a call from someone who makes a similar claim to hang up, call police and CL&P.
