Another scam alert from Seattle City Light: Not just phone calls

Scammers are still at work out there, trying to steal your money by making you think you are at risk of utility cutoff. We’ve reported this before (including earlier this fall) and today Seattle City Light is out with another alert:

As temperatures continue to drop and the importance of keeping your home warm rises, scammers are taking full advantage of the situation by targeting utility customers; threatening to shut off power unless payment is made to a fraudulent bill collector.

Seattle City Light is receiving 25 to 30 reports per week from customers targeted by such scams, often some of Seattle’s most vulnerable residents. Scammers commonly target non-English speaking individuals, elderly, and small business owners.

They use phone calls, email, even home visits, posing as Seattle City Light employees. In the scam, they are demanding the customer’s financial and personal information in addition to payment with a pre-paid credit card (MoneyPak/GreenDot) or else the customer will face an immediate shutoff of service.

Seattle City Light does not call, email or visit customers demanding immediate payment to avoid shutoffs. Anyone who falls behind on payments will receive at least two written notifications before the shutoff process starts.

Additionally, City Light employees will never need to enter your home to conduct any kind of test. If someone claiming to be from City Light approaches you at home and asks for personal or financial information, requests to enter your home, or cannot provide you with employee identification, immediately shut your door, secure your home and call 911.

If a customer suspects a scam attempt or has any questions regarding their bill, City Light urges them to call a customer service representative at (206) 684-3000.

City Light is taking a proactive approach toward stopping scams through its “Spot It, Report it, Stop it,” scam prevention campaign. To learn more about how you can end scams, please visit: www.seattle.gov/light/EndScams. The website offers various resources for customers to protect themselves and their family and friends from scams.

7 Replies to "Another scam alert from Seattle City Light: Not just phone calls"

  • drahcir61 December 15, 2014 (2:59 pm)

    The last time someone came to my house unannounced I grabbed my phone & quickly put it in camera/video mode, also putting the phone in “silent” mode.

    As I opened the door I pretended to be talking to someone on my phone, I told them “I’ll call you back” … as I said hello to the person at the door I quickly took a few pictures of them, making it look like I was just hanging up the phone.

    Not everyone should try this as someone could grab your phone & run, or suspect that you just took their picture & be very annoyed.

    But for those like me in West Seattle who are tired of these petty theives & feel that they can handle that situation quickly, go for it.

    When someone up to no good thinks you took their picture, they leave very quickly & probably leave the neighborhood too.

  • carole December 15, 2014 (4:10 pm)

    The virus in your computer scammers are back at it. I received 4 calls Friday alone. When I responded that I knew it was a scam, one caller started shouting nonsense sounds as I hung up.

  • CanDo December 15, 2014 (5:20 pm)

    Yep… rec’d one of these calls last month, but they claimed to be the gas utility… heavy accent. I called PSE just to make sure they had received my payments and they said they were getting tons of similar calls from their customers.

    Got a call a couple of days ago from someone saying they were from the “Windows” Department and were concerned about my computer. I told them “No you’re not… This is a total scam and we’re tracking your call so watch for the police because they are on the way to shut you down” and hung up. Haven’t heard back from them.

    Then this morning I rec’d a call from the “U.S. Treasury” – heavy East Indian accent – telling me to call back immediately if I didn’t want my delinquent taxes to become a total mess, because they were contacting the authorities with legal papers and I risked arrest. I just started laughing, it was so ridiculous.

    I can hardly wait to see what scammer calls next.

  • Eric December 16, 2014 (4:10 am)

    Coming to your house? Wow, these POS are gonna come to the wrong house where someone with common sense is gonna know it’s a scam.

  • WTF December 16, 2014 (10:39 am)

    Come to my house. PLEASE!

  • Skyfall December 17, 2014 (6:34 pm)

    I got the “we’ve detected that your computer has downloaded a virus” phone call a couple weeks ago. So, of course, I said “Oh, no, really? What can I do?” This led to a great deal of fun in which I repeatedly asked how much THEY would pay ME to fix it and the gentleman became more and more frustrated and indignant when I “just couldn’t understand” why that’s not how it works. If you’re legit and call me to sell something, I’ll politely say “No, thank you,” but if you’re clearly a scammer, I’ll mess with your head!

  • Skyfall December 17, 2014 (6:37 pm)

    Oh, almost forgot, I got the “IRS” call, too, threatening to have a warrant issued for my arrest. Unfortunately, it was left on voicemail, so I didn’t get to have any fun with that one.

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