Electric Co-ops Warn of Phone Scam

(Aler­ta de estafa de ser­vi­cio eléc­tri­co*)

Elec­tric coop­er­a­tives in South Car­oli­na are warn­ing con­sumers to be aware of scam artists who are call­ing mem­bers pos­ing as elec­tric co-op employ­ees. The callers tell a con­sumer that imme­di­ate pay­ment is need­ed to avoid dis­con­nec­tion of util­i­ty ser­vices. The callers then pro­vide instruc­tions to send mon­ey via a third-par­ty pay sys­tem.

 

Pal­met­to Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, which serves con­sumer-mem­bers in Allen­dale, Beau­fort, Hamp­ton and Jasper coun­ties, last week was alert­ed to the scam by mem­bers who were con­cerned about the pay­ment-seek­ing callers. In those instances, the sus­pi­cious calls were com­ing from an Arkansas area code.

Hor­ry Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, which serves Hor­ry Coun­ty, has had sev­er­al reports of busi­ness­es being tar­get­ed from an area code in Indi­ana.

“If you receive a sus­pi­cious call regard­ing your util­i­ty bill, get the caller’s num­ber then hang up and call police,” said Pene­lope Hin­son, Hor­ry Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive spokesper­son. “Nev­er give your cred­it card num­ber or oth­er per­son­al infor­ma­tion over the phone with­out ver­i­fy­ing the call.”

Mem­bers should also con­tact their local util­i­ty to report the inci­dent. By call­ing the co-op direct­ly, you can talk to a ser­vice rep­re­sen­ta­tive who will con­firm your bill and let you know of any prob­lems with your account.

Co-ops will not call or email you for your account num­ber or pass­word, so keep your account infor­ma­tion to your­self. Also, don’t assume that you can trust caller ID to let you know where a caller is locat­ed. Because scam­mers may use Inter­net call­ing tech­nol­o­gy, the area code you see may not reflect where they real­ly are.

About The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc.

The Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tives of South Car­oli­na, Inc. is the state asso­ci­a­tion of inde­pen­dent, mem­ber-owned elec­tric coop­er­a­tives. More than 1.5 mil­lion South Car­olini­ans in all 46 coun­ties use pow­er pro­vid­ed by elec­tric coop­er­a­tives. Togeth­er, the co-ops oper­ate the state’s largest elec­tric pow­er sys­tem with more than 70,000 miles of pow­er lines across 70 per­cent of the state. More infor­ma­tion is avail­able at www.scliving.coop.

*Alerta de estafa de servicio eléctrico

York Elec­tric esta aler­tan­do a los con­sum­i­dores de una estafa, que impli­ca indi­vid­u­os que lla­man a miem­bros hacién­dose pasar por rep­re­sen­tantes de Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tives.

Los estafadores indi­can que el pago es requeri­do de inmedi­a­to, para evi­tar la desconex­ión del ser­vi­cio eléc­tri­co.

Algunos con­sum­i­dores han infor­ma­do que las lla­madas sospe­chosas apare­cen en el iden­ti­fi­cador de lla­madas como 870–210-8600. York Elec­tric esta avisan­do que cualquier lla­ma­da recibi­da por este numero u otro numero sospe­choso debe ser repor­ta­do a las autori­dades locales.

Ust­ed nun­ca debe pro­por­cionar infor­ma­ción per­son­al o números de tar­je­tas de crédi­to cuan­do reci­ba una lla­ma­da sospe­chosa. Si un miem­bro recibe una lla­ma­da sospe­chosa, correo, correo elec­tróni­co u otro tipo de con­tac­to inusu­al u ofer­ta de una per­sona o com­pañía hacién­dose pasar por emplea­do de York Elec­tric, el miem­bro debe ter­mi­nar la lla­ma­da inmedi­ata­mente y con­tac­tar a las autori­dades.

Los con­sum­i­dores tam­bién deben lla­mar a York Elec­tric a (803) 684‑4248 para repor­tar el inci­dente. Los rep­re­sen­tantes del ser­vi­cio al cliente pueden ayu­dar­lo a con­fir­mar el pago o bal­ance en la cuen­ta.
Relat­ed Top­ics:
Phone Scam Inves­ti­ga­tion Request­ed 
Swindlers Tar­get Co-op Mem­bers