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Northwest Colorado residents targeted by multiple scams

Scott Franz
Steamboat Today
A Yampa Valley Electric Association payment box.
File photo

Routt County residents are again facing an onslaught of scams from individuals looking to steal their money.

The Routt County Building Department issued a notice Monday warning of a scam where people posing as a roofing company have asked for half of the money up front and then never performed any work.

The scam has specifically targeted elderly individuals.



Assistant County Manager Dan Weinheimer said the scam was first detected in neighboring Eagle County, and officials there sent out a warning to neighboring communities because they thought it could spread.

It wasn’t known Tuesday if the scam had reached Routt County.



“Ideally we just wanted to be proactive and get the message out to prevent anything,” he said.

Yampa Valley Electric Association has also been warning its customers about a scam in the area.

Last week, the electric company said someone claiming to be from a collection agency has been calling YVEA customers demanding money from past due accounts.

“If you should get a call from someone claiming to be with a collection agency collecting on YVEA’s behalf, please call our office at 970-879-1160 for confirmation and report suspected scams to local law enforcement,” the company said in a Facebook post about the scam.

Would-be scammers are also targeting government officials.

Steamboat finance director Kim Weber said Tuesday that someone attempted to impersonate city manager Gary Suiter via email last month seeking a wire transfer of money.

Weber didn’t play along because she noticed something wasn’t right.

She said she got the email from the city manager imposter, which started out by asking her if she was in her office, while she was at a regular staff meeting that Suiter also attends.

“I get emails at least monthly from (a scammer) asking are you in your office? I need a wire sent out. What is the cutoff time for a wire?,” Weber said.

The scam attempt was similar to one that provoked a police response in 2015.

Back then, someone made an email to pose as Weber and requested a $21,500 wire transfer from an accountant.

City staff noticed the email wasn’t genuine and forwarded it to the police department before any money was transferred.


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