New Telephone Scam Involving Electric Bill

Modified: October 12, 2016 8:43am

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10/12/2016

Scammers Threatening Businesses the Power will be Turned Off

 

Buffalo, NY – Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard reports the Sheriff’s Office received several calls yesterday about telephone scammers threatening businesses who don’t pay their National Grid invoice. 

 

The scammers are claiming that a technician is en route to the business to disconnect the service if the company does not pay the bill immediately.  The scammer insists that the company purchase pre-paid money or credit cards, call a 1-800 telephone number and follow the prompts to pay the bill.

 

The Erie County Sheriff’s Office strongly advises individuals or companies who receive a call like this to ignore the scammer, and suggests they call their service provider at the number on the official bill to verify the status of their account.

 

This is the latest in an on-going string of telephone scams where the callers misrepresent themselves as a representative of a utility company or government agency and threaten punitive action if the issue isn’t settled immediately over the phone.