Utility Payment Scam

This is another scam that seeks to use your fear in order to extract money from you. It has been going around recently. You can read an FTC warning here.

Your phone rings. You hear that your account is in such a bad shape that your gas, water or electricity will be switched off now unless you pay immediately. If you panic and are ready to do anything to avoid losing your precious electricity or water, the caller will tell you an easy way out. You can pay by a GreenDot card, or pay by PayPal or use another cash equivalent. If you pay, you may never be able to recover your money.

If you get a call like that, you can resolve this situation in 3 easy steps:

1. Do not panic.
2. Get a phone number from the caller where they want you to provide payment information. Do not call it and do not pay anything yet.
3. Call your utility and find out what’s going on. Use the phone number from your bill. If you discover that the call you received was fraudulent, give your utility the phone number provided by your caller. The utility can contact the phone service provider and get that phone number disconnected.

If you receive a letter, a postcard or email with similar demands, go through the same 3 steps and provide your utility information they may use to go after the crooks. Only use the official phone number for your utility; never use any contact information from the demands.

You can also complain about scams to the Federal Trade Commission online or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP.

Wireless phone scams

This “Hooray, I get free money” scam targets Verizon Wireless customers, but it is easy for fraudsters to adapt it for any other phone company. The crooks call their chosen potential victims and tell them that Verizon is currently doing maintenance, but it will pay their customers $50 for every hour they are deprived of their phone service. The callers even provide a claim number that will allow people to get paid. All they want is 4 last digits of your social security number and your Verizon Wireless password. If you get excited and tell them what they want to know, they now have access to your account.

If you don’t believe in free lunch, crooks may try “Oh, no!” approach. They can tell you that your account is hundreds of dollars in the negative territory and is now locked. Then they ask you for your credit card number and other personal information in order to unlock your account. Whether your cell phone is your main way of communication or it is your emergency lifesaver, high debt can make you nervous even if you are sure you don’t owe anything. As soon as you lose your cool and start sharing personal information, crooks have you scammed and your information is at their disposal.

Providing crooks your personal information allows them to misuse that information in many ways. They can make changes to your account, they can buy phones and send text messages in your name, they can subscribe you to premium services, they may find out more personal information once they log into your account; including other phone numbers there, such as phone numbers of your children, spouses, and parents.

Be careful when you receive a call from your provider. Make sure it’s legitimate or call them yourself.

Better to be safe that sorry.