Modesto business owner hit by scammer claiming to be from MID

A Modesto business owner was scammed out of more than $2,000 Thursday by a caller purporting to be with the Modesto Irrigation District, he said.

This was no obviously overseas caller, though. Direction provided to the businessman showed some familiarity with Modesto.

“Basically, a guy calls saying he’s from MID and that my payment is late – and it just so happened that was true – and they are going to turn off the electricity in 30 minutes unless I get a special card and load money onto it to pay immediately,” said Rick Redner, who owns Togo’s sandwich shops in Modesto.

The initial call was picked up by the manager of one of the shops, and when Redner called the 888 number given, he got a message very much like the recording on the actual MID toll-free number: 888-335-1643. The bogus message says: “Thank you for calling MID, your community-owned electric service. Your call is very important to us, please wait while we connect you with a live representative.”

“If you call that number, you will think you’re on the phone with Modesto Irrigation District,” Redner said, “and whatever money you give will be lost forever.”

Redner said he first was told he owed $975, which was within $10 or $15 of what he owed. That has led him to think the scammers got hold of a previous bill or bills, so they knew what he roughly paid each time. He was told he could get the payment cards on aisle seven of the Safeway supermarket on McHenry Avenue, which is right across the street from his Togo’s in McHenry Village.

Redner got a call a bit later in the day saying that because the initial payment wasn’t made quickly enough, MID was requiring a $1,500 deposit, which would be refunded in three months. He coughed that up, too.

He said Friday that he’s embarrassed he fell for the scam, but did so because he was indeed late on a payment and the scammers almost nailed the amount. It wasn’t until Thursday night he realized he’d been taken, Redner said. “I told my son, who’s an attorney, what happened. He said, ‘Dad, you’ve been scammed.’ ”

Redner’s right about his money being gone forever, said Modesto police Sgt. Jerry Ramar. “As far as us being able to track the phone number, that’s not going to happen with today’s technology. You can download an app and grab a Google line and we’re not going to be able to track it. They can dump a line in 30 minutes, or grab one in 30 minutes.

“The red flag that everyone should be aware of is when they’re telling somebody to load a card and give them the 14- or 16-digit code on the back. That’s their way of capturing your money with no way of tracking it. If you think about it, why would a legitimate business have any worry about your money being tracked?”

Scams such as this are common, said MID spokeswoman Melissa Williams. The scammers are very savvy, and some even rig the calls so Caller ID indicates they’re coming from MID.

“We’ve also noticed sometimes they’ll hit in waves of businesses, like maybe Latino-owned businesses or all the bakeries or all the dry cleaners,” she said.

MID’s customer service staff is concerned that the scammers in Redner’s case knew what he usually pays. “They probably got a hold of an old bill that was discarded, or out of the mail,” she said.

It’s important for customers to know that MID never asks for credit card information over the phone, Williams said. A scam alert posted on the utility’s website also notes: “Live representatives from MID don’t make outgoing calls to our customers regarding disconnects. ... Protect yourself and never give personal information, bank account numbers, credit card numbers or Social Security numbers to strangers. If you are unsure if you are speaking to an MID Customer Service representative, hang up and call MID at 209-526-7337 or toll-free at 1-888-335-1643.”

Williams said to further spread the word about scams, MID is about to start some notices on radio and through Twitter.

This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Modesto business owner hit by scammer claiming to be from MID."