SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The RCMP and Northland Utilities are warning the public about a scam.

Impostors are contacting Northland Utilities customers over e-mail or phone, asking for payment on overdue accounts and threatening disconnection if payment is not made immediately.

"If in doubt, contact us," said Derek McHugh, manager of Northland Utilities in Yellowknife. "That's not the way we do business, where we ring up somebody or e-mail someone and say we need payment or we're cutting you off immediately."

The company first learned of the scam on Feb. 8, when it received a complaint from a customer. McHugh said Northland has placed ads in Yellowknifer and News/North, as well as contacted local radio stations and the Chamber of Commerce to get the word out about the scam. He was unsure if anyone had fallen for it.

Last month, there was a similar incident involving scammers demanding payment, purporting to be Northland Utilities.

Const. Sam Holm, media liaison for the RCMP with the Fort Resolution detachment, said the utility company seems like a good pick for scammers because of the urgency involved.

"Especially in the Northwest Territories, being threatened to have your power disconnected would be a major blow to any of us," he said. "And might catch most of us off guard and force us to do something that we wouldn't normally do."

He wasn't able to confirm if the two scams are connected.

"It's possible," he said. "I know there's been telephone calls and e-mails. The thing with the scammers as well is as long as they have a successful scam running, they'll keep running it until it's no longer successful. It's unfortunately worth their money to continue to do so, and the power company is certainly one that would catch most of our attention right away."

Northland is advising customers who may be approached by the scammers to report them to the RCMP. At press time, McHugh said the company had received two complaints, including one from Fort Providence.

"So probably too small of a number to say if there's any target in there," he said. "I don't know who it is that's making the calls, we don't know how they're picking the people."

Holm confirmed there had been "at least one" report to the RCMP, and that the scam is currently under investigation.

He could not confirm if anyone had lost money to the scam. If they had, he did say it might be hard to recover the cash.

"If the scammer is found, and we are able to successfully prosecute them, there is a chance," he said. "However sometimes with these scams what we're seeing is international ... that does make it much more difficult to recoup anything at that point."

Which is why he says the best advice if contacted is to end the call and check with Northland Utilities directly.

"With telephone and e-mail scams one of the hallmarks is pressure. So they're pressuring you on the phone or with an e-mail that there's an urgent urgent need for you to pay to avoid the disconnection," he said. "Obviously that's not normal operating procedures for a utility company."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.