(Spencer)– Spencer Municipal Utilities is warning customers of a telephone scam that’s been making the rounds this week.
SMU Information Director Curtis Dean says they’ve had calls from mainly commercial telephone customers in Spencer who are getting phone calls from a company calling itself “Consolidated Billing”. Dean says the caller explains to the business that they’re calling because they’ve been authorized by the local phone company to consolidate their billing and do the billing on their behalf. Dean says the caller attempts to get the person on the other end of the phone to authorize them to do that.
Dean says they believe it’s an illegitimate enterprise, or scam.
Dean says SMU does not work with any third parties to do billing or any other types of services.
Dean says any business getting a call from someone claiming to represent SMU or another phone company should be very suspicious. He says you always should confirm with your local phone company to make sure it’s legitimate.
Dean says if you get such a call it’s vital you NOT tell them yes, or you could be subject to getting your phone service “slammed” or “crammed”.
If you get such a call, Dean says you should try to get the person on the other end of the line to identify themselves–both their company and first and last names; and get a return phone number. In one case Wednesday, Dean says the recipient of the call asked for a phone number, which was an 800 number. When they tried calling it back, Dean says the caller couldn’t get through without providing a pin number.
Dean says another business that was targeted by “Consolidated Billing” Wednesday received repeated phone calls over a two-hour period. The caller(s) claimed the business’ telephone service would be cut off if they didn’t authorize them to do their billing. Dean says SMU will NOT allow anyone’s telephone service to be changed without direct authorization from the customer themselves.
SMU has contacted the Iowa Utilities Board about the apparent scam. A spokesman for the I-U-B told them that they are aware of the company’s attempts to deceive customers, but that there was little they could do about it.
(Story from Danielle Hitchings of sister station KDWD Hot 100 in Spencer).
