Phone Scam Defrauds Resident of Nearly $900

On Friday, Sept. 16, a Berwyn Place resident received a call from someone identifying themselves as an employee of Public Service, saying she was delinquent on her August bill at her business in northern New Jersey. 

The resident said she paid $899 in August, but the representative said it was never received: if she paid $500 within the next 30 minutes, the service would not be disconnected, he said. 

She was instructed to go to CVS or Rite Aid and send a Green Dot MoneyPak and then call back with the security number. The woman did this at a drugstore in Allentown, Pa.

The next day, she received another call, this time saying she had to pay the balance of $399 or face shutoff. She sent the payment from the CVS on Brunswick Avenue.

On Sept. 20, she called Public Service and learned that they had received her August payment and don't accept Green Dot MoneyPaks. 

She tried to called the phone number the caller had left her, but it was a Magic Jack phone and it wasn't plugged in. 

Det. Reading is investigating.