NEWS RELEASE June 3, 2014

Tehachapi City Hall has received phone calls from at least two area residents who appear to have been targeted as part of scam, or at least an unethical business practice.

The residents received calls from a person claiming to be calling on behalf of the City of Tehachapi that wanted to "put money in their pocket" and come to their house regarding a new energy plan we have. One of the residents said they hung up on the caller and that their caller ID came up as UNKNOWN. The other resident questioned the person regarding the fact that the City does not handle energy and the caller hung up on him. It appears that the calls were made by two different people, one female and one male (possibly with a Hispanic accent, according to resident).

The City of Tehachapi is definitely not engaged in any outreach or solicitation effort related to a "new energy program" or promising to "put money in your pocket". Anyone receiving such a phone call should call the Tehachapi Police Department at 822-2222.

As always, persons receiving unsolicited phone calls should never provide any personal or financial information to the caller. At most, gather as much information from the caller as possible to assist the police department in following up on possible fraudulent activity.