A phone scam was committed on a local dry cleaning business on Wednesday which resulted in the loss of approximately $1,000.

The scam was likely committed randomly by someone who was out of the area, said Ceres Police Department spokesman Sgt. Pat Crane.

The Ceres business owner received a call from someone purportedly from PG&E and suggesting that their power would be turned off because of non-payment of a bill. The owner believed he did pay but felt the payment was not received. The scammer told the owner to purchase a reloadable card like green dot for $1,000 and then asked for the number of the card. The suspects never made physical contact but could access the money from the card number, said Crane.

"This person is going to be out of a lot of money," he said.

Police warn anyone who receives an official sounding call from any purported public utility or the IRS requesting money to remember that they never seek payment through prepaid cards. "Don't do it despite how convincing they sound and call police," said Sgt. Crane.