Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington Electric Department today is warning customers about an ongoing bill payment phone scam targeting primarily Burlington restaurants and encouraging them to sign up for scam alert notifications from the Attorney General’s Office. In a new wave of calls today, Burlington Electric customers have been receiving calls threatening disconnection if payment is not made immediately.
These calls are not from Burlington Electric, and customers should hang up if they receive a call with such demands. If customers have any questions about their account status, they should call Burlington Electric at 802.865.7300 to let us know.
Utilities follow very clear state rules when working with customers about paying past due bills and do not demand credit card information or alternate payment mechanisms from a customer for any purpose. If customers receive a call with such a demand, they should follow these steps:
- Do not provide payment or any other personal information;
- Do not engage with the caller;
- Do not call back the number; and
- Call Burlington Electric Customer Care at 802.865.7300 to report the occurrence and to share any information you are able to provide, including name of the caller, caller’s phone number, and substance of the call.
Further, customers receiving such calls are encouraged to report this scam by contacting the Vermont Attorney General’s Office Consumer Assistance Program at 800.649.2424 (in-state only) or 802.656.3183 (from out of state numbers) or by visiting www.uvm.edu/consumer. Also, to further protect yourself against similar scams, customers are invited to visit this web address to read about common past scams. Further, Burlington Electric encourages our customers to sign up for the recently-launched Attorney General’s Office Scam Alert program by visiting this web address where subscribers may opt to receive scam and fraud alerts from the by text message, email, or phone.
Source: BED 10.6.2017