Pay Now or It's Lights Out: Power Customers Zapped by Fake Debt Calls

My elderly Dad who is nobody's fool alerted me to a story in his local paper about tele-scammers targeting businesses with threats to terminate utility power service unless they pay some phantom overdue bill. One of the thugs posing as a rep from National Grid, the well-known power provider to much of the Northeast US, called a small grocery store which has been operating for decades. See if any of these claims heard by its owner sound familiar:

* Your account has been "red-flagged" for being almost a grand overdue.
* You must pay within thirty minutes or we'll turn off the juice.
* You must run out right now and buy a prepaid swipe card to pay us.

False shame, false urgency, absurd ransom terms, and untraceable payment method .... check, check, check, and check. Oh, and the Caller ID of a real National Grid facility in Buffalo was being spoofed. (That's two states and eight hours away by road, and I don't think billing is managed there anyway.) The caller was also able to recite the grocer's actual account number and other data points, probably stolen somehow, creating plausibility.

Well, the store owner is another old man who wouldn't take that noise, and he knew his account was current. He reported to local police, who have received other complaints about the fake billing. An officer was present in the store when the same scammer called again. The thug disconnected when the officer tried to inquire about the fraud.

The more common utility scam is for competing providers to call or send people posing as the current provider's employees, then get victims to reveal account numbers and later slam them with a service change. Another one around Summer 2012 again involved fake employees gathering privileged personal information on the premise that some new federal welfare program was going to pay the victim's power or fuel bills.

Fake debt collection is not a new concept but this variant was new to me. As it turns out, this has been going on for maybe a year, and may not be confined to National Grid customers. In another variant the scammer claims that your meter has gone faulty and demands immediate payment for a new unit.

The real utility has stressed repeatedly that they don't play shakedown artist on the phone, they offer many forms of payment, they don't like killing off service in the dead of winter, and they don't charge customers for replacing company equipment like meters. If you get one of these thug calls, Nash Grid wants to hear about it. Reporting to attorneys general and the FTC wouldn't hurt either.


National Grid Reminds New England Customers of Payment Scam
https://www.nationalgridus.com/aboutus/a3-1_news2.asp?document=7623

National Grid Warns New York Customers of Latest Payment Scam
http://www.nationalgridus.com/aboutus/a3-1_news2.asp?document=7564

National Grid Warns Western New Yorkers of Scam  (Buffalo, NY - 28 Jan 2014)
http://www.wkbw.com/news/National-Grid-Warns- ... -242476321.html

National Grid warns against scammers threatening to shut off power  (Waltham, MA - 28 Jan 2014)
http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-new ... t-off-power.ece

National Grid warns of phone billing scam  (Dec 2013)
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-12-23/nat ... ne-billing-scam

National Grid, AG's office warn of utility billing scam  (Providence, RI - Sep 2013)
http://www.turnto10.com/story/23526842/nation ... ty-billing-scam

National Grid Customers Victims of New Scam  (Sep 2013)
http://call-center-services.tmcnet.com/topics ... ms-new-scam.htm

Lowell police warning of 'National Grid' phone scam  (Lowell, MA - Jun 2013)
http://www.lowellsun.com/news/ci_23566550/low ... grid-phone-scam

National Grid warns of scam   (Boston, MA - Feb 2013)
http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinanc ... ns_of_scam.html

Wow!!

Good story and great info.

Good info and story Res. I do think this scam has been around longer though. It flared up a few times over the years, but I think its getting much much more prevalent now.  All the scams seem to be escalating ....

It's a simpler ruse to manage than sending people out in utility worker costumes. Wouldn't surprise me if it was a 'legacy' scam. I just don't have the rest of the night to dig for older sightings. I get the sense that this has not been persistent like other phone frauds, i.e. credit repricing, alarm system sales, fake payday loan debt. The scam apparently targets businesses and not residences, and the news alerts have come in smaller waves, each factor making the issue harder to notice.

Yeah, it seems to my old foggy memory something like this hit Medford or Grants Pass along while back.

Local news stations are reporting this morning that scammers are contacting residential & commercial Duke power customers by phone. They are reported to have names, addresses & account numbers and are demanding payment by pre-paid card.
The regulars here would laugh such attempts off, but I'm sure that many of the more naïve out there will probably fall for it. I dearly wish the authorities were better armed to combat & deal with these scammers. It's obvious that information was illegally obtained & that the scam is large and well organized. A domestic fraud behind this scheme is a certainty. If the criminals are found, one would think the penalties would be severe. Sadly, we've all seen these types caught before. A fine is imposed (which is never collected) & a slap on the wrist with a few days of "3 Hots & a Cot" is served. I think this is laughable. If a person robs a bank of hundreds of thousands of dollars, that person looks at doing twenty years. That type of sentence should apply to the people behind scams like this as well.
Well, I guess all we can do is keep badgering our lawmakers about these inequities. For some reason our pleas are ignored. I think it's apparent that a lot of our lawmakers don't want to see harsh penalties handed out to frauds. I can't help but wonder why THAT may be......???
Live Well.
Gunnar

If I could tell you the number of times energy flippers have shown up at the door, or phoned. A personal story of mine, that I enjoy, was the time some guy showed up at the door late, on a Friday. Wanted to see my gas bill to make sure I was getting my discounts. The guy had on a baseball cap. . . from another gas company. He got the door slammed in his face. It been posted on 800notes- Be trusting, but check everything.

I couldn't agree with you more on that! Some serious jail time needs done by the creeps!

Same scam, different names, this month in West Virginia. Here's some of the local power provider's press release from last week:

    "Small business owners who are customers of Appalachian Power in West Virginia are the latest targets of scam artists seeking to extort cash. The scam, which instructs customers to purchase prepaid debit cards, such as a Vanilla or Green Dot, has been used in other states.

“Customers are receiving calls from a man who tells them that AEP no longer accepts payments by check or credit card, that their payments have been returned and that they owe $1,000 that must be paid immediately with a prepaid credit card. This is completely false,” said Jeri Matheney, Appalachian Power spokesperson. “Although most of the reports we are receiving this week are in West Virginia, it is safe to assume that this type of scam also is happening in Virginia and Tennessee.”
// END QUOTE //

Also, from the state AG's press release, right in step with the National Grid version and likely others are ruses which could work on both residential and business customers:

    "In addition to the billing calls, some scammers may call consumers and tell them they have a faulty gas or electric meter and it must be replaced — at their cost — or the utility will be shut off. Scammers also will send phishing e-mails to consumers asking for personal or billing information."


SCAM ALERT: Callers claiming to be from Appalachian Power using scare tactics to get cash from small businesses
https://www.appalachianpower.com/info/news/viewRelease.aspx?releaseID=1524

AG warns of utility payment scam
http://wvrecord.com/news/265944-ag-warns-of-utility-payment-scam

It happened here a while back.  The scammers were targeting people with Hispanic last names and living in the lower-income parts of town.  The scammers were counting on their targets not being fluent in English, making them more likely to fall for the scam.

yes, the scammers tried it here too. in maryland, using some bigger power company.  they  called me up asking for someone who hasnt lived here for 12 yrs. so i said what?  they keep going saying i was behind in bills. so i hung up. i knew it wasnt true.  i dont have that power company, nor would it  be in that person's name? i cant remember the exact number, but when i tried to call it back to get on their do not call list. it said   connecting to google voice mail, then said voice mail box was full. so i figured the  number was spoofed , used thru the net...  just a shame so many fall for fake stuff now days. and the scammers  dont care using their con artists ways.

A couple of years ago it was reported by Oklahoma Living, newsmagazine of Electric Cooperatives of Oklahoma.  They were targeting Hispanic members of a cooperative in the north part of the state, at the time, but I saw on the TV news later that they had branched out to customers of other companies.

its winter now so i guess the scammers have come south to prey on us now    just received the same call all of you received  only this time the utility is florida power and light co  i registered a complaint with the federal trade commishion  recommend you do the same   the phone number is 877 382 4357   they are quite nervy [scammers]   my business happens to be revere gun range  so if they try our type of business what else will they stoop to  thanks

Received call from 305-224-0917 claiming to be a representative from Florida Power & Light. Call was to inform me power was being disconnected for nonpayment. We never got to amount or how to pay because I told "representative" that my bill was paid up. He said there was a crew on the way to disconnect the power in 30 minutes if I did not pay. I told him I would not speak with him any further and would contact FPL directly. I checked my account online and everything was in order. I called FPL. The representative confirmed there was no order to disconnect and mentioned there is a scam going on.

I've kept a loose eye on this scam all year. It's been reported across The 48 and Hawaii. The thugs clearly "insert name here" of whatever is the local incumbent utility -- be it FPL, Appalachian, Duke Energy, National Grid, Pacific Gas & Electric, et al -- but it's hard to say how many fraud shops are in the racket.

Please be sure to comment in appropriate number threads and not only here in the meta-discussion.