[Lincolnparkdc] electricity disconnect scam

[Tom Woteki]

Neighbors:

Alerting you to a utility disconnect scam that is circulating. Google "pepco scam" to see some reports. I’m embarrassed to report that for as long as I have been involved in IT and its security I was victimized.

In our case I received  a call on my mobile from a number I did not recognize. I usually don’t answer such calls but in this case I did. Looking back on it, the number displayed is actually a real Pepco number. So the scammers can disguise their true number.

The scammer informed me that Pepco was going to disconnect our service in 30 minutes  for lack  of payment. They gave me a number to call so that I could take care of the “problem”.

My wife and I are away for the weekend. Very alarmed, we took the bait despite the strong suspicions we had in the moment. We called the number. The scammers appeared to be real Pepco. We didn’t press them enough to verify their identity. The scammers demanded payment be made by cash cards equivalent to a money order. After paying them they insisted they had made a mistake and we needed to make additional payments.

At that point we recovered our composure. We called Pepco and found out our account was in good order just as we knew it would be.

Apparently this and other scams like it are going around. Beware, stay cool and good luck.

Tom