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Thursday, July 12, 2012

Beware of the Latest Fraud Attempt


Fraud Alert

We want all of our customers to be aware that there is an on-line utility bill payment scam that is spreading across the country.  Thieves are convincing victims that a special federal government assistance program is now available to help pay utility bills through credits or payments to consumer utility accounts. This is total bunk!

Consumers are being contacted via telephone, fliers, e-mails and text messages and various other means.  Scammers request the consumer’s Social Security Number (SSN), financial institution routing number and account number in order to send the money to the consumer. In return, the consumers are given a fraudulent financial institution routing number to use in order to pay their utility bills through an automated telephone service.

The payment service initially seems to accept the payment and the consumer receives a payment confirmation notice.  Once the settlement processing between banks begins, the payment is declined due to invalid banking information. The consumer’s bill has not been paid and his/her SSN and personal financial information have been compromised.

Never provide your personal information and banking information to anyone who may call you claiming to be from the Glasgow EPB, or anyone else.  We do not request this type of information from our customers to pay utility bills.

If you ever have any questions about information being requested by someone claiming to represent us, please contact our customer service department at 651-8341.

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