Posted on 07/02/2024 10:12:18 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Scammers are impersonating utility company representatives to defraud people by threatening the deactivation of service, the nonprofit Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning.
In utility scams, the criminals “may impersonate water, electric, and gas company representatives, threatening residents and business owners with deactivation of service if they don’t pay up immediately,” an alert issued on June 20 reads.
Typically, the scammers create an environment of false urgency by claiming that customers need to make an overdue payment within the hour or risk having their essential utilities shut down. The frequency of scams increases during certain times of the year, however, according to the nonprofit.
“Utility scams happen any time of year, but will typically pop up during extreme cold or heat events when many people are more likely to need their heat or air conditioning,” the BBB website states.
In some instances, a fake representative may visit a home wearing a lookalike uniform and claim that the electric meter isn’t working properly and should immediately be replaced, according to the BBB’s alert.
Scammers seek entry to homes to perform repairs or energy audits, but with the intent to steal valuables and siphon off “personally identifiable information that just happens to be out in plain sight,” according to the website.
Offering energy discounts is another tactic.
In certain cases, the criminals may attempt to access the homeowner’s electricity account information to switch the service to another utility provider without consent in an illegal practice called “slamming.”
The BBB report detailed an incident in the report: “A lady claimed to be from [company name redacted] and told us our power would be shut off in 45 minutes and we were to call the billing department. [My] husband called the number and they asked for a credit card. He didn’t feel right about it and called [company name redacted] and they said it was a scam.”
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advises people who have been defrauded in a utility scam to report the matter to the utility company, the state attorney general, and the agency via reportfraud.ftc.gov.
If a person has already made payments to the scammer through a debit or credit card, they can contact the card-issuing company, notify it of the fraudulent charge, and request a payment reversal, according to the FTC.
The same process can be repeated in the case of a bank transfer, wire transfer, or money transfer; contact the relevant firm and seek a reversal of the transaction.
If the customer paid via cash, the individual must get in touch with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at 877-876-2455 to have the package intercepted.
Any payments made via cryptocurrency are irreversible, the FTC warns.
“Once you pay with cryptocurrency, you can only get your money back if the person you paid sends it back. But contact the company you used to send the money and tell them it was a fraudulent transaction. Ask them to reverse the transaction, if possible.”
Fraudsters can conduct the utility scam in person, via text, or through a call. The BBB warned that if a caller specifically asks someone to make payment via a prepaid debit card, gift card, wire transfer, or a digital wallet app, this is considered a “huge warning sign.” Legitimate utility firms typically accept a check or a credit card, it said.
Another red flag is if the so-called utility representative puts pressure to make immediate payments, typically within the hour, and engages in intimidation tactics to gain personal and banking information.
In March, Monica Martinez, executive director of Utilities United Against Scams, warned about a new scam trend targeting customers.
“A more recent scam uses fraudulent websites that are identical to a utility payment page and that are promoted on search engines to trick customers into clicking the page and making a payment,” she said.
In April, the FTC charged bill payment company Doxo for allegedly impersonating billers such as utility companies and misleading consumers, while collecting millions of dollars in junk fees.
The number 1 indicator of a scam IMHO is that they don’t use your name, it says customer or nothing. So if your name is not stated it is 99.9% a scam.
One day it won’t be scammers.
It will be a Wall St backed company promising “efficiency” to the municipalities and will take over. And then they can do what they want.
This is an important post! People need to know about these scams. The government isn’t doing near enough to alert the public, in my opinion.
I guess I’m in the minority here. But I rather enjoy taking these scam calls, as evil as they are.
I’m always very polite with these scammers. Always! And I answer all their questions. Yet they inevitably get angry with me, and end up disconnecting the call. I wonder why. Maybe that’s because I only speak to them in Hungarian - an obscure language I’m quite good at.
I suppose I’ll be bested the day a Hungarian scammer calls me. But that hasn’t happened yet.
If they come to my door I know something’s wrong as I handle all my utilities online.
CC
AT&T provides data servers to the NSA, CIA, FBI. Does anyone really think hackers and Ransomeware operations are not known and green lighted by those agencies?
Our banking systems software even provides databases of the best targets. In a way, the hackers are government contractors. Why do you think they are never pursued and prosecuted? Ever... Yet they will find anyone at any cost for reading a verse from the Bible in front of an abortion clinic.
Sounds exactly like the IRS scam.
> What makes you think the government isn’t part of them [the scammers]? <
I suppose that’s possible. But I doubt it. Phone scammers almost always have Indian or Pakistani accents. Their pitches are unpolished and filled with grammatical errors.
Don’t get me wrong. Our government is capable of great evil. But if the government were actually running the scam call centers, the calls would be much more sophisticated. And they’d have less red flags.
And US presidents.
It’s always funny because the IRS says they never call - but they want a phone number (scratches head)
I screwed up on my taxes about 20 years ago - didn’t include some unemployment I got from one state after a consulting job ended.
BUT I got a letter first, so I called them. They told me what was missing so I said give me 2-3 days promised to call them back.
Checked my taxes - they were right, I was wrong. Called them and told them that. Paid in $50 monthly payments, very low interest. I never missed a payment but I always used a money order.
Of course the next year, they just automatically took half of my refund to pay the balance. Which was OK. I had always set my taxes (when I was making decent money) so that I would get $3000-$3200 back at the beginning of a year. It forced me to save - yeah I could have invested it. Oh well.
If people PAID THEIR BILLS the scammers wouldn’t be so effective.
“Scammers seek entry to homes to perform repairs or energy audits, but with the intent to steal valuables and siphon off “personally identifiable information that just happens to be out in plain sight,” according to the website.”
So do plumbers, electricians, AC repairmen, etc. And no, it’s the old man who owns the van you have to worry about, it’s the high school kid ‘helping him’, who’s supposedly ‘learning the trade’. And many times it’s not even the high school kid you see, but rather his ‘friends’ who are tipped off and make the hit.
“The number 1 indicator of a scam IMHO is that they don’t use your name, it says customer or nothing. So if your name is not stated it is 99.9% a scam.”
That’s certainly one of the easier signs, but of course the opposite doesn’t necessarily apply (that if they use your name, then it’s legit).
Another easy sign is to look at the email address the ‘warning’ comes from. If it’s G-Mail, it’s fake, you can bank on that one.
The sure-fire way to defeat this kind of scam is just to pay your bill on time.
And if say you are on too tight a budget to pay it on time, you shouldn’t have any money to be scammed.
The same process can be repeated in the case of a bank transfer, wire transfer, or money transfer; contact the relevant firm and seek a reversal of the transaction.
If the customer paid via cash, the individual must get in touch with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at 877-876-2455 to have the package intercepted.
Any payments made via cryptocurrency are irreversible, the FTC warns.
Thanks for posting...
About 3 months ago a young lady knocked on our front door saying she had to see our electric bill. She stated that all she had to see was the back of the bill to see if we are paying to much. She was wearing a plastic ID around here neck. I told her if there is a problem with my bill tell the electric company to contact me by mail. She said “fine” and left. Whenever I get scam calls I tell them I will talk to them and answer their questions but only if I can talk like Mickey Mouse.
There’s a lot of dumbass people...let the get scammed.
“But I rather enjoy taking these scam calls, as evil as they are.”
I have fun messing with them, too. I figure that if I’m occupying their time, then someone who’s vulnerable isn’t being targeted. (That’s how Mom handled Jehovah’s Witnesses when they came to the door. They always got coffee and donuts.)
I got two phishing attacks yesterday. One was a text purporting to be from Florida’s SunPass saying I owed $279. (Click here to dispute.). The second was a email saying someone had posted a $1279.52 charge on my PayPal account. (Click here to dispute.)
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