How to Spot (and Avoid) These Utility Scams

As if you didn't have enough fraud and identity theft to worry about, scammers are increasingly targeting an essential part of your day-to-day comfort: your utilities. Utility scams may be especially effective during extreme weather-such as heat waves or winter storms-when you'll do anything to have your power on and water running. Here's how to spot a utility scammer and avoid losing any money to their game.

How utility scams work

There are a number of ways scammers target utility customers, almost all of which involve a threat of your utilities being shut off unless you pay up, fast. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is alerting consumers of a scam in which you receive a barcode via text or email, supposedly from your utility company, to make a payment toward your bill at a retailer like Walgreens, CVS, or Walmart. Customers of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) in California have been warned of phone scams in which callers threaten disconnection of your utilities unless you send an immediate payment with a prepaid debit card, gift card, cryptocurrency, or an instant digital platform like Zelle or Venmo. Texas-based Austin Energy has received reports of scammers knowing specific details of a customer's bill when calling, stating that their payment didn't go through, and then directing victims to a fake site to enter their payment information again.

The common denominator is a phone call in which the scammer claims to be from your utility company and demands immediate payment. They may ask for personal financial details, such as account or credit card numbers, directly or instruct you to pay via a method you cannot easily recover (like a prepaid debit card or wire transfer).

In some cases, scammers may reach out to you via email or even show up at your door pretending to be a utility worker.

How to avoid utility scams

As with any scam, don't take any communication pressuring you to pay money at face value. If you owe your utility company money, you will probably receive a few notices before your service is shut off, and these are usually delivered by mail or door tag. Your utility company will not call you to demand payment-and if you are behind on your bills, they will probably work with you to set up a payment plan. They're also more likely to just disconnect your service rather than hound you by phone.

If you do receive a phone call or email-or god forbid, an in-person visit-from someone claiming to be with your utility provider, do not proceed, and do not confirm any personal details. Call the company back using the phone number on your bill or found in your secure online account to verify anything you've been told. Note that scammers may create fraudulent websites and phone numbers that appear when you search, so get contact information from documents you already have or by logging into your utility account.

Do not pay bills in ways you can't trace or easily get your money back. Only scammers demand that you use a specific method like wire transfers, prepaid debit or gift cards, QR codes, or payment apps-your real utility company will always have several secure options for ways you can pay your bill.