Someone is busy running a scam on individuals who have taken out classified ads in the PVT. Most involved pets.

Several clients have notified the paper of efforts made by a woman calling them to ask about their payment.

In fact, payments had been made, and no one working at the Times was making the calls.

One advertiser said he asked the woman who called for information "and she just said she was from the Pahrump Valley Times."

Wisely, "He told her to have the girl who took the ad call him back."

One who received a call suggested the accent indicated "it may have been an African-American sounding lady." Another described her as "soft-spoken."

Another said Thursday she received a call "by someone claiming to be from the PVT, stating the PVT billing computers had crashed and they needed her credit card number again."

The recipient of the call contacted the PVT.

One caller suggested she could drive out to a woman's home in order to acquire payment. The recipient of the call said she preferred no such visit should take place.

Another recipient of a phone call was confused about the need for payment. "He didn't understand because he paid cash," the caller said.

None of the calls were made by anyone representing the PVT, said business manager Holly Hernandez.

In order to short-circuit the phony calls, she said, "We've contacted two other advertisers in the puppy section."

She said anyone who has received questionable calls in which efforts were made to acquire their credit card numbers or information regarding other forms of payment should contact the paper directly to clarify matters.

Hernandez said as far as she knows, all credit card payments have been successfully filed without any need for collection efforts.