RAYNE, La. (KLFY)-- Two scam callers called a 90-year-old Slemco customer in Rayne asking for her banking information for a reimbursement.
Margaret Doucet answered the call meant for her mother, which had a 337-area code.
The first person she spoke to asked her to confirm her mother's identity, and the second asked for her mother's banking information to receive a reimbursement check of $170 due to the heat index making bills higher.
"He knew that she paid her bills by herself, and he just wanted to know if he could reimburse about $170 and if I could give him my mother's MasterCard or her account number, then he would be able to send that money to us," Doucet said. "My mom does have a touch of dementia, so if they target those, and that he knew that she paid her bill by herself. He knew that we were in Rayne. He knew that kind of information is really scary."
When Doucet noticed his accent sounded foreign, she asked which electric company he was with.
He refused to tell her, only saying it was located in Rayne.
"When he wouldn't give me the name of his company, then I knew," Doucet said. "I was just so grateful that I answered that and not my mom because it's possible that she would have given him whatever information he needed."
Margaret's mother is a Slemco customer, not a customer of a Rayne-based electric company.
Slemco Communications Coordinator Mary Laurent said they got multiple calls last week about scammers pretending to be Slemco to get customers' private information.
"We're not going to call anybody and tell them we're going to reimburse them for anything," Laurent said. "If that's the case, we're going to mail them a check."
Laurent said Slemco will never ask for personal information over the phone.
