Unfortunately, there are many scams that target utility customers. Awareness is the best way to avoid becoming a victim. <\/p>\n
Following are examples of common utility scams:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Fake disconnection threat<\/p>\n
Scammers threaten to disconnect electric service claiming the bill is past due and demanding immediate payment. Remember, utilities will send reminders and never call requesting urgent payment over the phone.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Solar panel push<\/p>\n
Fraudulent sales people come to the door stating they partner with your utility and provide inaccurate information to pressure residents into a solar panel system contract. They often misrepresent the cost and sometimes may not ever deliver. There are honest solar installers who provide legitimate service and products. Do the research and check references and reviews before such a large investment.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Personal info payoff<\/p>\n
Criminals call or email stating that someone is doing a payment to the electric account and all they need is a social security number or banking information to apply for the program. Never provide personal information over the phone or email unless you initiate the contact.<\/p>\n
Scammers are becoming more sophisticated and finding new ways to defraud victims. Embrace your power to protect yourself, your family and friends by remaining alert!<\/p>\n
\u2022 Don\u2019t be rushed. Take the time to verify who you are talking to.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ask questions. Ask for verification of your account number or ask to see a company identification card.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Verify with your utility by calling or emailing the contact info listed on their website. Do not ever use the link or phone number in an email or text message.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Don\u2019t trust a caller-ID. They can be easy to imitate.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Utilities do not ask consumers to provide prepaid debit cards as payment. <\/p>\n
Shannon Williamson is public relations supervisor for the Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC). It serves Cape Coral and North Fort Myers, as well as Sanibel, Captiva, Ave Maria, Immokalee, Lehigh Acres, Marco Island, and Pine Island. For more information, visit lcec.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unfortunately, there are many scams that target utility customers. Awareness is the best way to avoid becoming a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":{"0":"post-96769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-cape-coral","9":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","10":"tag-cape-coral-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}