Hughesville, MD – Phone scams have become more prevalent as technology has developed over the years. With the increased capabilities of the internet, people have found new ways to cheat unsuspecting consumers out of their hard-earned money. Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) customer-members have been victimized from time to time as scammers seem to work their way through different areas of the country. Some trends have emerged as scammers become more proficient.
According to Tom Dennison, managing director of government and public affairs at SMECO, “Scammers frequently prey on the elderly and people who speak English as a second language. But, lately, businesses have been targeted.” In one incident, a frantic business owner received a call and was told his power would be cut off within an hour if he didn’t make a payment. “That business owner was focused on a major event he was preparing for, and he became alarmed. Rather than taking a few minutes to contact SMECO directly to check his account, he made a payment over the phone to the fraudulent caller.”
Scammers may target businesses because of several factors. Businesses usually have higher monthly bills and scammers will take advantage of that, claiming the business customer owes $1,500 rather than just $200. Businesses may have more than one person authorized to pay bills, and scammers exploit the lack of communication between employees and business owners.
To cause further confusion, scammers can make the name of the utility appear on a customer’s caller ID, and they have improved their ability to trick people by duplicating voice recordings and imitating utility phone systems. “Some of the ways these scammers can imitate the utility are pretty convincing. A scammer who provided a call-back number even used voice prompts that were recorded from SMECO’s phone system,” said Dennison.
Complicating factors have also been added to the landscape in the form of alternate energy suppliers and solar companies that are trying to conduct business legitimately. According to Dennison, “Some energy suppliers and solar companies may contact customers to offer their services, but customers should never feel obligated to provide their account information. Legitimate companies can provide services without requiring a customer’s account number.”
When asked what SMECO customer-members can do to avoid being victimized, Dennison offered a list of suggestions. “Customers should try to be aware of their typical monthly bills and their due dates. Electric utilities follow state regulations and have set schedules for billing and payment,” Dennison explained. “That frantic business owner I described had never had his power cut off before and he wasn’t familiar with our procedures.” SMECO has a set routine for collecting payments from customers.
• Unknown callers who give short deadlines and threaten to cut off service within an hour or two are probably running a scam.
• SMECO will mail a termination notice if a bill is past due.
• SMECO calls customers who owe a past due balance using an automated phone system with a recorded message; rarely will SMECO employees make personal “collection” phone calls.
• Collection calls are made about 10 days before service is to be terminated.
SMECO does not require payment at the time of the call.
• SMECO does not make collection calls or terminate service on weekends or holidays.
• If service is going to be terminated, a SMECO collector will knock on the customer’s door before turning off service.
• SMECO collectors will accept credit card payments, checks, or money orders, but they do not accept cash.
Conversely, customers who know they owe money should contact SMECO to make payment arrangements. “Because SMECO does initiate automated collection calls and customers can choose to make a payment over the phone, some phone calls are legitimate,” said Dennison.
Fraudulent activities are also conducted by email. Customers who receive electronic bill notices should not open emails from unfamiliar sources. SMECO’s emails contain account-specific information, such as the customer’s name and the first few digits of the account number, and they use the co-op’s distinctive orange and green colors. Emails that contain several grammar and spelling mistakes are probably not legitimate. If an email looks suspicious, it may contain malware or links to a virus-infected website. Customers who receive a suspicious email should not open it or click on any links; they can simply delete the email.
For customers who believe they have received a fraudulent email or phone call, some basic guidelines follow.
• Customers should use the phone number printed on their monthly bill and only give payment information over the phone if they initiate the contact.
• Customers should not provide personal information, banking information, user names, passwords, or account information to unauthorized callers or in an email.
• Customers should not provide Green Dot, Western Union, or Moneygram payments to unauthorized callers.
• Customers should never meet unauthorized callers at a local store or bank to make a payment—their personal safety could be at risk.
Dennison said, “If customers receive a phone call from someone threatening to disconnect their power, they may hang up. If they want to verify account information, they can call SMECO directly. Our contact center is open 24 hours a day, every day. SMECO’s phone number is 1-888-440-3311, and it’s printed on every customer bill.”
SMECO has issued alerts when customers have notified the co-op that these scams are taking place. “Not only are scams a nuisance, but these crooks can steal thousands of dollars from unsuspecting residents and businesses,” said Dennison.
“We want to help prevent this type of crime by educating our customers whenever we hear about people being tricked out of their hard-earned money.”
He added, “SMECO has a number of ways customers can pay their bills that will help prevent confusion. Customers can use budget billing to pay the same amount every month. They can use AutoPay to have payments made automatically with a credit card or checking account. Customers can easily go online and make weekly payments if that helps them with their personal budget. We offer a variety of payment methods that are free and convenient because our goal is to make it easy for customer-members to do business with SMECO, but we also want to help protect people from scams.” For more information, visit smeco.coop/stop-scams.