KIRO TV’s Jesse Jones has
announced that an Edmonds small business owner was scammed out of more than
$500 for an “overdue” utility bill by someone claiming to be from PSE. Some
unique techniques that the scammers were using include:
·
They call you and leave a message to call or
hang up before you have a chance to respond.
·
When you call the number that they provide, you
hear a recording of PSE’s actual phone announcement that you would hear if you
called PSE directly.
·
Victims are told to go to a local drug store and
load the payment on a pre-paid card.
·
If you listen carefully, you can hear other
scammers in the room typing on their keyboards.
·
Victims are told that their electricity will be
cut off within minutes.
If you receive a call from
someone claiming to be from PSE hang up. Remember, if you are late in your
payments with a utility, you will be notified by snail mail and it will take
several weeks and notifications before a utility can cut off service to you. If
you receive a call from someone claiming to be from PSE or any other utility,
do not use the phone number that the caller provides. Call the number provided
on the utility’s monthly bill, or look up the utility’s web site with a Google
or Bing search.
PSE received 47 complaints about
this scam yesterday. A dramatic increase in the number of daily scam
complaints.
Look at the KIRO video that was
broadcast tonight.
KIRO TV/Jesse Jones:
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