State regulators are warning area residents of a new twist to a common scam that is once again circulating across West Virginia.
This latest version of the scam is troubling because the scammers often have enough specific information about a customer’s utility bill to make them sound credible, according to Susan Small with the West Virginia Public Service Commission.
In one recent example, an Appalachian Power Company customer received a call in which the scammer claimed to represent the utility and threatened to shut off service if the customer didn’t pay the amount of money that was demanded. The scammer then insisted that the customer had to provide her bank debit card information and pay $778.09, which was the exact amount of the customer’s last bill, the PSC said in a news release warning state residents of this latest scam.
Small said the customer then told the scammer she had paid the bill in person and had a receipt. But the scammer continued to push his scheme, claiming that the payment had not been processed and the company never received the money. He then continued to threaten the woman with loss of electric service if she did not provide her debit card information — all red flag warnings of a scam.
While the woman interacted far too long with the scammer — something you should…
