Businesses across Iowa are reporting that criminals claiming to represent their local power company are calling and threatening to shut off their electricity unless they make immediate payment through a prepaid debit card. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said there has been a surge of reports of this scam over the past several days. In the scam, as earlier reported by MidAmerican Energy Co., caller ID is “spoofed” to make the calls appear to be coming from the local utility company. “Anyone who takes a call like this should hang up,” MIller said, adding that some businesses have lost money through the scam. In the scam, a caller claims that the call recipient owes the utility company an overdue balance, and must make an “electronic payment” with a prepaid debit card within a matter of hours or the company will shut off the recipient’s power. Miller said in a release the calls, using businesses nationwide, likely are from criminals operating from outside the U.S.