TL;DR: If you're talking to someone from one of your utility companies, they will have your account number on hand, and should be able to easily verify it with you.
Terrific news: we were exposed to a new scam today. Some of you may have already experienced this one, but it was a first for us, so we had to share:
Someone called from a local number pretending to work for APS (our local power company), and informed us that they had a "shut off notice" for our building.
They asked if we had received a previous notification about our power being shut off, and when informed that we hadn't, the person on the line helpfully volunteered to note that on our "file."
The person on the line knew our company name, our owner's name, and our address (which makes sense as that is all public record).
After verifying our information, they furbished an 800 number for us to get in touch with their very official sounding "Shut Off Department" so we could avoid shut off.
While they were talking, we were trying to figure out the simplest way of proving they were full of it, but all that came to mind was asking them for our APS account number.
They claimed to not have it "on hand" which didn't sound right at all. When asked to pull it up so we could reference it during our talk with the mega important sounding "Shut Off Department" they quickly hung up.
They asked if we had received a previous notification about our power being shut off, and when informed that we hadn't, the person on the line helpfully volunteered to note that on our "file."
The person on the line knew our company name, our owner's name, and our address (which makes sense as that is all public record).
After verifying our information, they furbished an 800 number for us to get in touch with their very official sounding "Shut Off Department" so we could avoid shut off.
While they were talking, we were trying to figure out the simplest way of proving they were full of it, but all that came to mind was asking them for our APS account number.
They claimed to not have it "on hand" which didn't sound right at all. When asked to pull it up so we could reference it during our talk with the mega important sounding "Shut Off Department" they quickly hung up.
So, we were just tossing around some ideas and started to wonder if a lot of Tax Scammers, and Loan Scammers couldn't be shut down by simply asking them to verify the last 4 digits of your Social Security Number or something to that effect?
Anyway, food for thought. We just figured we should make you all aware in case you haven't gotten this exciting new scam call yet.
We were thrilled like the first thousand times we got a call about our car's warranty running out.
Anyway, food for thought. We just figured we should make you all aware in case you haven't gotten this exciting new scam call yet.
We were thrilled like the first thousand times we got a call about our car's warranty running out.
