UtilityBillingScam.pdf

Utility Billing Scam

Imagine receiving a phone call from your utility company saying
it intends to shut off your electricity. The only way you can
avoid disconnection of service, you are told, is to make an
immediate payment using a debit card or an online payment
service such as PayPal or GreenDot. If you have Caller ID on
your phone, it may look like the call is coming from the utility.
You wonder, “Did I forget to pay this bill? Maybe I should
make a payment just to be safe.”

Don’t do it! This is a scam, set up to take your money in a way that prevents you from
being able to get it back.

Scammers can use computers to make it look like they’re calling from one place, when,
in fact, they are someplace else. If you get a call, email or text from somebody that
demands immediate payment using a debit card or a specific online payment service to
avoid having your utility service disconnected, it’s probably a scam.

If you are not sure whether you have paid your bill, hang up and call the utility company
directly to ask if you have a past due bill. Use the number given on your utility bill or
found on the utility’s website, not a call-back number given by whoever contacted you
and threatened to shut off service.

Utilities offer many payment options, and will advise you on how you can pay bills by
phone or online while keeping your personal financial information safe. Utilities never
insist that you use a specific form of payment, such as a debit card.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission requires utilities to follow certain procedures
before service can be disconnected. Those rules apply to regulated utilities that provide
electric, natural gas, water and wireline telephone service in Idaho. Although utilities do
call customers with past due bills before service is disconnected, that phone call is the last
step in a lengthy effort to obtain payment. Written notices are sent to customers before
that phone call is made. If collection efforts fail, a utility can shut off service. Before
service can be disconnected, a utility technician will attempt to contact the customer in
person at the home or business, identify himself or herself as a utility employee, and
provide a final opportunity to pay.

If you have been the target of a scam, contact the Idaho Public Utilities Commission at
[phone] or [phone] or by using the Consumer Assistance Form at
www.puc.idaho.gov.