Scammers threaten to cut off woman’s electricity in an hour if she didn’t pay

Greece, New York — A Greece woman who wanted to stay anonymous says she received a call Tuesday evening from someone saying her RG&E bill was overdue.

According to the woman, the caller threatened to cut off her power in an hour if she didn’t pay.

“Anytime it’s a utility or a major bill, people tend to not think,” explained Melanie McGovern from the Better Business Bureau of Upstate New York. “They panic. They think, ‘Oh my God, it’s really warm out, I need my air conditioning, I need to pay this electric bill. That’s what the scammer is hoping for.”

The woman says the caller asked for a $400 payment in the form of a prepaid card. The Better Business Bureau says that’s a big red flag.

“They’re relying on you to be scared, to press that panic button, run around and do whatever you can to keep your electricity on,” McGovern said.

According to Sarah Warren, corporate communications manager, RG&E will never threaten to shut off the power.

“We’ll always work with our customers to pay outstanding balances and we’ll never demand the customers to use those prepaid cards or Green Dot cards to pay their bill,” she said.

According to Warren, scammers are getting more sophisticated, using phone numbers that appear local and sound legitimate when you call back.

“If a customer ever doubts the caller is from RG&E, we recommend hanging up and calling the number on their bill or asking for the last five digits of their account number and if the person on the other end can’t answer that, it’s most likely a scam,” she said.