A local businessman is out over $1,100 and no one has a clue to the thief’s identity or how personal information was stolen.

For Mark Rigas, January 30 seemed like just another busy day at the Boothbay Harbor House of Pizza, located in the Meadow Mall. Rigas was in the middle of the noontime rush when he received a call from a man who claimed to represent Central Maine Power.

“He said they would shut my electricity off unless I paid my balance within 30 minutes,” Rigas said. “The person had my account number, my name, my physical address and the exact amount I owed: $1,170.07. They had information that only CMP would have and I knew they could shut me down.”

Rigas said he did not want any disruption in his business so he followed the caller’s instructions. He went to Rite Aid and purchased a MoneyPak card for the total amount and then called the Maine telephone number the caller had given him. “They answered Central Maine Power and I gave them the card numbers,” Rigas said.

Unfortunately, the call was a scam and Rigas later found out the credit card had been redeemed in the Philippines.

Central Maine Power representative Gail Rice said CMP has been aware of this scam for some time and has issued press releases to warn customers. She also said scams targeting utility customers have been identified nationwide.

But how did the caller obtain Rigas’ account information?

Rice said CMP cannot answer that question but they do not believe their security has been breached. ”We’re quite confident our systems are secure and we are always monitoring and checking them,” Rice said.

Rice said often the source of the data breach is close to home. “We are not sure how they get that information,” Rice said. “But if a customer is receiving paper bills, it could be their bill was taken out of their mailbox.”

Rigas said he is sure in this instance no one has taken his bill. “I don’t have a mailbox. My bill is delivered directly to this place,” Rigas said.

Rice also said that the CMP scam “mostly seems to be perpetrated from other parts of the country and abroad” casting further doubt on a local culprit.

Rice said that this particular scam has been mostly directed at small business owners, particularly ethnic ones, but some residential customers have also been contacted.

“These scam artists have targeted businesses where there may be a language barrier and the individuals may be more easily intimidated,” Rice said. “We’ve noticed a trend of targeting small ethnic markets and restaurants.”

Rice stressed that CMP would never demand immediate payment or require customers pay using a MoneyPak card.

“We would never call and tell someone they had to pay within a half hour or hour or two hours,” Rice said. “PUC rules forbid us to do so. If someone is in arrears, they get a couple of mailed letters with instructions and contacts for catching up on their payment.”

Rice said customers should contact CMP at 1-800-750-4000 about any billing questions. Anyone who needs to make an urgent payment, should do so through the CMP website, by calling CMP or through one of the authorized payment agents identified on the CMP website. The payment agent closest to Boothbay Harbor is Brackett’s Market in Bath.

Rice also recommends customers notify local law enforcement when they are approached by scam artists. Boothbay Harbor Police Officer Larry Brown, who is investigating the Rigas case, recommends a call to BHPD or Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office whenever any email or phone call requests money or seems suspicious.

Rigas does not expect that he will recover his lost money or the thief will be caught, but he hopes his story will serve to warn others.

“I’ve talked to everybody and their mother and their grandmother and no one could give me any answers about how this happened,” Rigas said. “I want people to know about this so it won’t happen to somebody else.”