As the temperature starts to dip, scammers are taking advantage of the cold weather by trying to swindle you out of your money.
Recently there has been an increase of scams involving con artists impersonating utility company representatives. Scammers are threating residents and business owners with deactivation of service unless they pay up immediately. Using the idea of being without heat or electric in the cold as a scare tactic.
Typically, this scam occurs by telephone. In Naperville, scammers have been identifying themselves as City of Naperville employees or from Naperville Electric. The scenario works the same with any utility provider. They may use “spoofing software” or an internet-based phone services to falsely display the name and phone number of your utility company on your caller ID.
How does it work? They say you’ve got an overdue bill and need to pay quickly to avoid an impending shutoff. Scammers are not polite either. They are very persistent and can often be threating and intimidating. They request payment via hard-to-trace prepaid debit cards (green dot) or ask for your credit card information. If this is too inconvenient for you, they will even offer to send someone over to your house and pick up the money! They will stress the urgency and only give you a few minutes to make a decision before the service is shut off. All scare tactics.
If you are really overdue on your utility account, the City of Naperville or other utility companies will send you a correspondence in the mail. In most cases, multiple notifications will be sent. No solicitation of payment is done over the phone. If you are in doubt, call your utility provider from the number located on your statements.
Until next month… Stay aware and stay safe.
