Hawaiian Electric is warning business customers about fraudulent phone calls from scammers threatening to shut off service if payments are not made via QR codes.
The company said today it has received about 10 fraud reports from Oahu businesses since mid-June. Two eateries received a QR code for payment and in both cases paid at least $2,000 to the scammer at a nearby drugstore, according to a Hawaiian Electric news release.
At least seven of the fraud calls reported since June 16 were made from the same local number starting with 458. A call to the phone number reached a recording for a New York-area electric utility.
Hawaiian Electric said it does not call and threaten immediate disconnection if payment isn’t made, and does not demand payment via email, over the phone or in door-to-door visits. It also does not demand payment via money transfer, prepaid debit cards or Bitcoin.
For available payment methods, go to hawaiianelectric.com/paymentoptions. To file a fraud report, visit hawaiianelectric.com/reportfraud.