(Des Moines)– The Iowa Utility Association and the state’s three major natural gas providers…Mid American Energy, Alliant Energy and Black Hills Energy, are warning customers of another payment scam that’s making the rounds. This one claims that President Barack Obama is providing credits or applying payments to utility bills.
According to various reports, scammers have called or visited customers in person, posted fliers and used social media and text messages to perpetuate the scam. In Iowa, many of the scam artists are contacting customers via phone or customers are hearing the claim through word-of-mouth.
Customers are being told they can make a utility payment by using a bank routing number that is supplied by the scam artist and a series of numbers from their social security cards as the bank account number. Customers should only use authorized methods and legitimate banking information to pay their bills. Credit card numbers and personal information should not be given to suspicious callers.
Payments made using the routing numbers identified with the scam will NOT be accepted by any of the three above-mentioned utilities and the money will NOT be applied to your bill.
Anyone getting such a call should simply hang up and contact their utility provider, along with local law enforcement.
