Gas and electric utility companies across Minnesota, as well as the rest of the U.S. and Canada, on Tuesday announced they are working with the Better Business Bureau to protect customers from long-running scams targeting customers.
Organizers of the effort say reports of telephone, email billing and door-to-door scams are back again and represent thousands of dollars lost by customer victims, and they've set Nov. 16 as "Utilities United Against Scams Day."
Under one common scam scenario, a natural gas or electric customer receives a phone call from an individual who falsely claims to be a utility representative. The scammer warns that the utility will disconnect the customer's electric or natural gas service if the customer fails to make an immediate payment.
"These schemes often ramp up with the change in seasons," said Dana Badgerow, president and CEO of the BBB of Minnesota and North Dakota. The campaign said reports of scams jump by as much as 30 percent as the weather turns colder. "Like most scams, it plays on people's fears and has proven to be quite effective."
Scammers have even duplicated utilities' telephone messages and automated response systems so when customers call phone numbers provided by the scammer it sounds legitimate. Some of these scammers also use caller ID mimicking the utility they claim be representing.
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The utilities urge their customers to hang up and report the call if the scammer tells the customer his or her account is past due and service will be disconnected if a large payment isn't made fast, usually within less than an hour. Another red flag is if the scammer instructs the customer to purchase a pre-paid debit or credit card - widely available at retail stores - then instructs the customer to call back to supposedly make a payment to the utility.
Organizers said utilities never ask or require a customer with a past due account to purchase a prepaid debit card to avoid disconnection, and customers with past due accounts receive an advance disconnection notification by mail days or weeks in advance - not a single notification one hour before disconnection.
If you suspect someone is trying to scam you, hang up and call your utility at the phone number listed on your bill and report it to the Better Business Bureau. Never dial the phone number the scammers provide. Anyone who actually hands over money erroneously or feels threatened should contact local police.
