Scams involving utility bills for electric, water or gas services have long been popular with scammers.  I recently was informed of a version of this scam involving Pacific Gas & Electric in California where the targeted victim received a call from someone posing as a PG&E employee threatening a shut-off of electricity within the next 45 minutes unless $500 was paid immediately.  The scammer falsely indicated that two warning letters had been sent previously.  Fortunately, the intended victim recognized this as a scam, hung up the phone, called the real PG&E and learned that this was a common scam presently circulating.

These scams come in different variations.  In another utility scam, potential victims receive telephone calls purportedly from their utility company informing them of a special company promotion for which they are eligible.  They just need to provide some personal information.

In  yet another version of the scam, potential victims are called on the phone and told that their utility service will be terminated for non-payment unless they pay by credit card or prepaid cards such as iTunes cards over the phone.

In a further version of this scam, potential victims receive an email that has a link to take them to their bill.

TIPS

You can never be sure when you get an email or a telephone call if it is really from a legitimate source.  Email addresses can be hacked to appear legitimate and even if you have Caller ID, a scammer can use a technique called “spoofing” to make it appear that the call is from a legitimate caller.  Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.  Never provide personal or financial information to anyone in response to a telephone call, text message or email until you have independently confirmed that the communication was legitimate.  In the case of a utility bill, merely call the number on the back of your bill and you will be able to confirm whether or not the communication was legitimate.  Also, never click on links unless you have confirmed that they are legitimate.  The risk is too great.  It is also important to remember that no legitimate utility company will require you to immediately pay your bill over the phone with a prepaid card such as an iTunes card or a gift card.

For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide has been cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and type in your email address on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”