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ST. LOUIS, Dec. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Just ahead of the holiday season, Ameren is providing tips to its customers to safeguard them from scam artists who are using intimidation and other tactics to defraud the company's customers in Missouri and Illinois.

Ameren urges customers to be on alert for phone calls from scam artists who threaten disconnection of utility service unless a payment with a Green Dot Money Pak card or other pre-paid card is made immediately. Scammers are also mimicking voice recordings that appear to be from utilities to persuade customers to make an immediate payment.

"We want to alert our customers that we have also received reports of door-to-door scams and suspicious emails demanding payment," said Tim Reagan, director of corporate security at Ameren. "To safeguard all of our customers, it's important that anyone who has been subject to these intimidation tactics call Ameren and their local police department."

Ameren offers these tips against scammers:

• Ameren never demands personal, account or financial information for immediate payment. Never give your credit card, debit card, Social Security, ATM, checking or saving account numbers to anyone who comes to your home, calls or sends an email requesting this information.
• Ameren employees never come to your home without a scheduled appointment for reported outages or gas leak orders. Never let anyone into your home claiming to be from the utility unless they show proper Ameren badge identification. Our employees are not allowed to take payments in the field.
• Ameren never sends emails that include attachments, unless you've contacted us to specifically request information. Never open attachments unless you've contacted Ameren for the information.

If you suspect someone is impersonating an Ameren employee, end the conversation and immediately call Ameren Illinois at 1.800.755.5000 or Ameren Missouri at 1.800.552.7583. Customers can also follow Ameren on social media to receive the latest updates on scams.

St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation powers the quality of life for 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area through its Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois rate-regulated utility subsidiaries. Ameren Illinois provides electric delivery and transmission service as well as natural gas delivery service while Ameren Missouri provides vertically integrated electric service, with generating capacity of 10,300 megawatts, and natural gas delivery service. Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois develops regional electric transmission projects. Follow the company on Twitter @AmerenCorp. For more information, visit Ameren.com.

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SOURCE Ameren Corporation