BY PCC STAFF
FORT MADISON - Alliant Energy has received a record number of customers reporting scam phone calls. Customers also report that scammers are getting better at impersonating utilities. The company received a few complaints that some are sending text messages or coming right to your door.
From January 2016 to November 2017, Alliant received on average 53 contacts per month reporting scam activity.
Since December 1, 2017, it has has received 416 reports of scam phone calls. Of these:
Roughly 75 percent of complaints come from business customers. The rest are from residential customers.
Typically, scammers call customers claiming to represent Alliant Energy. They threaten to disconnect utility service if the customer doesn’t immediately buy a prepaid credit card to make a payment.
In one case, a customer reported receiving a text message from someone stating that they work for Alliant Energy and needed a call about their bill.
Alliant Energy does not request immediate payment or prepaid credit cards. It also does not threaten to disconnect service via text message. We recently began offering account alerts by text as an optional service. Customers must sign-up to receive them. They are informational only, providing reminders of when the bill is due.
If you receive a call like this:
Beware that scammers can spoof caller-ID displays, which means they can mask the call’s true origin and make it appear as if it the call is coming from a utility company.
Customers should report attempted scam contacts to local law enforcement.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here