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Woman warns of utility bill scam (Obama paying for my utilities)
WSBTV ^ | July 8, 2012 | WSBTV

Posted on 07/09/2012 8:47:37 AM PDT by listenhillary

SPALDING COUNTY, Ga. —

The Better Business Bureau and Georgia Power are warning people about a scam, promising that President Barack Obama will pay utility bills with a new federal grant.

Channel 2's Tony Thomas spoke to a Griffin woman who fell for the scam. Loneiyce Washington even introduced her friends to what she thought was a legitimate offer. They ended up getting scammed, too.

Washington said she thought Obama passed a law that provided credits to help her and others pay their utility bills, she told Thomas.

Investigators said the scammers ask for people's Social Security numbers and bank routing numbers. The victims are then given a fake routing number to a bank and the money routed will go toward paying their utility bills. Washington thought after the money had been routed, her bills had been paid. But that wasn't the case and she said she didn't have to give out her private information.

"I didn't think it was a scam because they are not asking for personal information," Washington said.

After falling for the scheme, she called her friends to tell them about it.

"I'm just apologizing about it. I hope they understand it was a mistake," Washington said.

Georgia Power also hopes their customers did not make the same mistake, according to a recording.

Georgia Power warns customers to hang up and call the phone number on their utility bill if they receive a call from someone claiming to be their utility company.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government
KEYWORDS: obamarecession; obamataxhikes
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To: NoGrayZone

“No such thing as free”

I humbly disagree. She probably gets lots of free stuff from the various governments already: Fed, state and local. She was so accustomed to free stuff from the government that one more thing didn’t cause here any alarm. Same with her friends.


21 posted on 07/09/2012 9:23:20 AM PDT by RadiationRomeo (Step into my mind and glimpse the madness that is me)
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To: listenhillary
Investigators said the scammers ask for people's Social Security numbers and bank routing numbers.

"I didn't think it was a scam because they are not asking for personal information," Washington said.

Dear God,

Please please please remove the stupid people from the earth.

Thank you.

Amen.

22 posted on 07/09/2012 9:29:11 AM PDT by rockabyebaby (We are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo screwed!)
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To: NoGrayZone
No such thing as free. Such idiots deserve to be scammed.

Horse hockey.

Given the numerous government handouts that exist already (food stamps, child care credits, heating assistance, etc...) and the fact that we've got a president who seems determined to create as many new government handouts as possible, it seems perfectly reasonable to believe the government has a rent assistance/handout program.

Should she have checked this out more thoroughly? Yes.

Should she have thought twice about giving her SSN and bank account info out? Hell yes.

Should she have thought "there's no way the government is going to give me money to help with my rent"? No, because that isn't the world we live in. Like it or not, we live in a world where the government hands out money for just about any and everything.

23 posted on 07/09/2012 9:31:30 AM PDT by Brookhaven (Obama Admits He Can't Fix What Bush Broke, So Why Reelect Obama?)
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To: listenhillary

I have a feeling the scammers are on the right target.


24 posted on 07/09/2012 9:36:11 AM PDT by ravenwolf
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To: Brookhaven

In order to get her “free money” from the gov, she had to go somewhere to give her sob story and sign up for it.

This time she didn’t. Also, this moocher did NOT get her money stolen. She got OUR money stolen, stolen from us by the USSA gov., then given to her.


25 posted on 07/09/2012 9:44:16 AM PDT by NoGrayZone (For evil to triumph it is only necessary for good men to do nothing.)
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To: Brookhaven

You are right. Not much surprises me anymore.

What I thought was ridiculous and unthinkable 10 years ago often is today’s reality.


26 posted on 07/09/2012 9:44:16 AM PDT by listenhillary (Courts, law enforcement, roads and national defense should be the extent of government)
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To: NoGrayZone
No such thing as free.

TANSTAAFL!

27 posted on 07/09/2012 10:08:35 AM PDT by Martin Tell (ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it)
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To: listenhillary

So let me get this straight, these people have enough money in the bank to be scammed by scam artists, but not enough to pay their own damn utility bills? Sorry, but if that is the case, she got what she deserved.


28 posted on 07/09/2012 10:09:23 AM PDT by BradtotheBone (Moderate Democrat - A politician whose voting record leans left and whose vote can be bought.)
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To: listenhillary

If you’re targeting people like these folks for your “scam”, you’re going to need to scam A LOT of them because I doubt their bank accounts are very hefty.


29 posted on 07/09/2012 10:40:15 AM PDT by Sopater (...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. - 2 COR 3:17b)
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To: Martin Tell

What does that mean???


30 posted on 07/09/2012 10:50:10 AM PDT by NoGrayZone (For evil to triumph it is only necessary for good men to do nothing.)
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To: NoGrayZone
What does that mean???

It took me a second, but it appears to mean "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch."

31 posted on 07/09/2012 10:57:17 AM PDT by IYAS9YAS (Rose, there's a Messerschmitt in the kitchen. Clean it up, will ya?)
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To: IYAS9YAS
That's it.

"TANSTAAFL!" is an acronym ("There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!") coined by Robert Heinlein in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It became the motto of Free Luna.

32 posted on 07/09/2012 11:03:30 AM PDT by Martin Tell (ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it)
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To: IYAS9YAS

Ahhhhh, thank you! Ain’t that the truth.


33 posted on 07/09/2012 11:10:45 AM PDT by NoGrayZone (For evil to triumph it is only necessary for good men to do nothing.)
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To: BradtotheBone

The scammers are gathering info to commit identity theft.

The next shoe to drop will be the opening of credit cards, bank accounts, loans, etc... in these people’s names. An entire fake credit history will be built for them.

Then a few months from now bill collectors will start coming after them asking why they aren’t making payments on their credit cards and trying to reposes the cars they recently bought.

They’re complaining now about being scammed, they have no idea how bad it is about to become.


34 posted on 07/09/2012 11:46:38 AM PDT by Brookhaven (Obama Admits He Can't Fix What Bush Broke, So Why Reelect Obama?)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks listenhillary.
Washington said she thought Obama passed a law that provided credits to help her and others pay their utility bills... the scammers ask for people's Social Security numbers and bank routing numbers... "I didn't think it was a scam because they are not asking for personal information," Washington said.
The difference between her head and a pumpkin? The latter will eventually have a light in it.


35 posted on 07/09/2012 3:24:30 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Yes, in fact, I did steal that joke.)
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To: verga
Would she look like Obozo’s sister?

Probably not ... he's only half white, remember?

36 posted on 07/09/2012 7:09:06 PM PDT by Fast Moving Angel (A moral wrong is not a civil right: No religious sanction of an irreligious act.)
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To: Brookhaven
At that point, Obama would declare this is to BIG TO FAIL, and the taxpayers will have to bail them out.

Is anyone sure that it wasn't Obama raising campaign funds, after all he has been BEGGING for all the wedding and shower money intended for gifts. He isn't above this scam either, or someone associated with him.

Nothing would suprise me about obama and his ilk, nothing.

37 posted on 07/09/2012 9:40:47 PM PDT by annieokie
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To: listenhillary

“You can’t cheat an honest man”. —W.C. Fields.

The converse is also true. It is supremely easy to cheat somebody who wants something for nothing.


38 posted on 07/10/2012 10:54:50 AM PDT by denydenydeny (Admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt one has for others.-Tocqueville)
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