Tips for Avoiding Seasonal Scammers

While the holiday season is certainly a time of generosity toward others, there are some who view this goodwill as an opportunity to separate you from your hard-earned money. While there are a great number of scams floating around, those involving perpetrators posing as utility employees are of particular relevance for Missoula Electric Cooperative (MEC) and its members. Below are some of the more common schemes which come and go around the country each year.

Over the past several years, we have received reports of members getting phone calls from individuals posing as MEC employees demanding immediate payment on their electric service. The callers are aggressive and stress the urgency of the situation, threatening to shut off power if payment is not made immediately.

A key to this scam is the fact that the caller requests a very specific payment method, commonly a pre-paid debit card or money transfer service like Western Union or Money Gram. Before an electric account comes up for disconnect at MEC, several attempts are made to notify members and work with them to bring their account current. For our part, we do not accept prepaid debit cards or wire transfers as payment and for compliance reasons, we cannot take your credit card information over the phone.

If you receive a suspicious call demanding immediate payment, hang up the phone immediately. Keep in mind, more sophisticated schemers utilize software to manipulate how their phone number appears on your caller ID. This added layer of deception lends credibility to the caller and can help them overcome objections from potential victims. If possible, ask for a phone number you can call when you have payment arranged. Report this information to local law enforcement, the Cooperative or the Montana Attorney General’s office.

Another common vector for consumer fraud is via email. While cold-calling victims takes time and effort and may not yield much success for scammers, email offers the ability to reach millions of inboxes at a time (through a process known as spamming).

Emails offer additional opportunities for perpetrators by adding links which if clicked will install ransomware, malware or other viruses on the victim’s computer. Caution must be exercised when it comes to attachments that may have deceiving names such as “invoice” but could cause big problems if downloaded or opened.

While most spam is picked up by firewalls and anti-virus software platforms, some does inevitably get through. It is up to consumers to take precautions with emails that make it into their inboxes. Keep in mind, sophisticated spammers will “spoof” a business by downloading information, logos and styling from a businesses website and format their emails to appear as if they come from the company they are purporting to be.

If you are not sure about an email you have received, the easiest thing to do is to simply delete it. In addition, letting the company know someone is sending out suspicious emails in their name can help them spread the word to other customers. Do not reply to or click on the “unsubscribe” link for suspect emails as hackers have been known to attach viruses and malware to download to your computer if you do.

If the email looks legitimate, there are additional precautions recipients can take before replying or clicking on the links. A great habit to get into is hovering over any links before clicking on them. When the cursor is placed over a link of any kind, information about that link will appear in the bottom left corner of the screen. If the information that shows up does not appear to match the text of the link, avoid clicking on it.

Another, more daring scam involves people dressing up as utility employees and knocking on doors demanding payment. If someone appears at your door to shut off your power without immediate payment, do not give them money.

Keep in mind, MEC employees wear uniforms with our company logo and drive vehicles with the MEC logo on the doors. Also, be aware that it is not our policy, and not likely the policy of any legitimate company, to aggressively demand payment out of the blue.

The best course of action in this instance is just shut the door and call the Cooperative. We can quickly pull up your account and let you know if there is a past due amount. Since these scammers are looking for fast cash, most will give up and move on to the next mark. Notifying law enforcement could prevent your neighbors from a similar hassle.

Finally, we periodically get reports of traveling salesmen and unsolicited mailings offering so-called green devices for your home that are “guaranteed” to save money and may qualify for utility rebates. Resist the initial temptation and call MEC to find out if what they are offering is legitimate. Many utility rebates require pre-approval or the use of a certified technician. Also, what they are selling may not save enough energy to pay for the upfront cost in your lifetime, despite their claims. If you really want to know how to save electricity, there is only one call to make – your cooperative employs experts who can offer real advice free of charge with no obligation.

No matter how scammers reach out to you, remember to exercise caution by not giving out any private information including account numbers, user names, passwords or personal information such as social security numbers, dates of birth or answers to security questions. With so much information available about us on the Internet, scammers can sometimes offer enough information to convince victims that they are who they say they are.