Cynthia O'Toole lives in Wildwood and runs a demolition business in Eureka. She's always on her cell phone, but Friday, O'Toole said she received a phone call not from a potential client but a crook.
"Yes, I thought it was legit at first, totally," said a frustrated O'Toole.
O'Toole said the caller claimed to be an employee from "Ameren's Residential Department."
The man told her the utility company would shut off the electricity at her home if O'Toole didn't download a cash app and immediately pay a $498 bill.
"I was fighting them. There were three guys talking to me actually. I remember their names. I was calling my bank on my landline to see if my checks had cleared, and I was crying you know because I felt insulted," said O'Toole.
The Wildwood woman also felt something just wasn't right.
"The cash app, it just seemed fishy and the fact that they kept giving me a little bit more time. You know they said you have to have a debit card and you have to have a driver's license," added O'Toole.
A furious Cynthia then called Ameren.
"And I told them briefly what happened and like in two sentences they said it's a scam," O'Toole recalled.
Ameren told 5 On Your Side this scam has been going on for several weeks now. Convincing-sounding con-artists have called countless St. Louis-area customers and tried to dupe them out of quick cash.
We've also learned that each year Ameren receives about 2,000 reports of a variety of scams. The utility company's best advice for its customers: be smart, listen to your gut and if a persistent, suspicious person calls you, hang up your phone.
"They'll give you a claim number, so it all sounds very good and it's in a very in a hurry sounding, official voice that sounds like an emergency on the phone. No, it's not. It's probably a scam," said Maria Gomez, a security supervisor with Ameren.
Gomez said bottom line: scammers just want customers' money. They especially prey on the elderly.
"Ameren's not gonna ask you for a payment immediately on the phone. They're not gonna ask you to run somewhere and get money or download an app to your phone," added Gomez.
An alert Cynthia O'Toole hopes more people will now be more careful.
"I'm pretty proud of myself for never falling for anything. They almost got me," she said.