JEFF LEWIS, General Manager
Consumers with water, gas and electricity connections have long been targets for utility scams. But in today’s digital world, every swipe and click increases the risk of your falling victim to fraud.
Little River Electric wants to help you avoid utility scams. So, I’m going to share some of the latest ways scammers are preying upon consumers and provide tips to help you stay safe from even the craftiest cons.
Types of utility scams
One common scam involves a person who comes to your home disguised as a utility employee or representative. They will claim your bill is past due and threaten to disconnect service if payment isn’t made immediately. The scammer will try to convince you that this is an urgent situation that can only be remedied with payment methods that are not part of what Little River Electric offers.
Similarly, scammers may use phone calls, text messages or emails to demand payment. Using a practice called “spoofing,” scammers make the identification on your caller ID appear to be from a trusted source. Spoofing makes it easier to deceive you and more difficult to immediately verify the call.
Scammers also may use fraudulent websites that look identical to a utility payment webpage. They will even promote these pages on search engines to trick consumers into clicking and making a payment.
A relatively new scam involves a scammer calling or sending texts or emails claiming you overpaid your electric bill and are due a cash or banking refund. This scam is aimed at stealing your personal information and inflicting even more damage to your finances and privacy.
Spotting a scam
Look for these red flags to identify a utility scam:
- High-pressure tactics, like claiming your electricity or other services will be disconnected if a payment isn’t made immediately.
- Unusual payment methods, such as gift cards or cryptocurrency.
- Emails or text messages that contain poor grammar, spelling errors and odd email addresses.
What Little River will (and won’t) do
Little River Electric will never demand an immediate payment or threaten to disconnect your service without prior notice. We give advance notification and work with our members to avoid disconnects.
Little River Electric will never ask for your Social Security number or banking details over the phone or through email. Several secure payment options are available, including in-person, via scheduled payments or online at SmartHub.
Avoiding scams
Whether in-person, over the phone or online, always be suspicious of an unknown individual claiming to be a Little River Electric employee and requesting banking or other personal information. We will only send you text messages if you have opted in for important alerts from our SmartHub notifications.
If you’re ever in doubt about a potential energy scam, just give us a quick call at (864) 366-2141 so we can assist. We want to help protect you and our community against utility frauds, and by notifying us, you can create the first line of defense.
JEFF LEWIS,
General Manager
