A Halifax restaurant owner says he nearly fell victim to an elaborate phone scam that targeted more than a dozen other people in the province.
Nova Scotia Power says it received 15 reports Friday from customers who were called and told they had unpaid electricity bills and were going to have their power cut off.
On Friday, Elias Fathallah was serving customers at his restaurant Caribbean Bliss when the phone rang around 11:30 a.m.
“Someone called Eugene told me he worked with the power company, and he was coming in 45 minutes to disconnect my power,” he said.
In shock, Fathallah says the man gave him a 1-800 number and an extension, saying he had to contact them to keep his electricity running.
Before he could finish spelling out the numbers to his credit card, the man interrupted, saying instead that Fathallah had to go to a spot on Oxford Street in Halifax and pay $1,020.09 in cash.
The man said he should arrive at the parking lot and call him for further instruction.
At that point, Fathallah hung up, promising to bring the cash.
Having just bought the restaurant in September, he first decided to call the previous owner who told him it could be a scam.
Fathallah then decided to call the number on his bill statement.
“I told her, ‘What’s going on? Why do I have a red flag on my account? I paid my bills on time.’ And she said, ‘What are you talking about? Your bills are paid … we are not coming to disconnect your power.”
Fathallah said the scammer seemed authentic, speaking with him for nearly 40 minutes and putting him on hold while he claimed to check with the workers who were coming to cut his electricity.
Read the full story over at CBC News.
