Help us find Annie
The citizen be damned, no matter what
The Baltimore Examiner reports:
Baltimore County police are warning residents of a scam by criminals posing as Baltimore Gas and Electric representatives.
According to county detectives and BGE security specialists, a woman calls a BGE customer about a substantial outstanding bill and says the power will be shut off if the balance isn’t paid immediately. The caller then tells the resident that a BGE representative will come to the door to accept payment in cash.
A Rosedale man was that told he owed $1,000 but that BGE would accept $750, police said.
The representative has shown up at the door as the resident is still talking on the phone with the service representative, according to the police report. Victims said the caller identifies herself as either Samantha Barkley or Erica Walker.
BGE said the company only contacts customers about a bill by letter or in-person by a BGE representative who should have proper BGE identification, according to the police report.
Anyone who has been a victim of this fraud is asked to call 911 immediately.
What are the odds that, if someone was approached about this scam, invited the phony collector to their house and made a citizen's arrest, holding the perpetrator at gunpoint until police arrived, that public-spirited citizen would be prosecuted for brandishing a weapon; illegal imprisonment; and whatever other charges the county prosecutor could trump up? And yet, without catching one of these perpetrators in the very act of attempting to collect on this phony scheme, what are the odds that the same prosecutor could make the fraud charges stick?