National Scam Awareness Week: O&R Says Beware Con Artists

NANUET, NY — Con artists posing as O&R representatives are an ongoing, frequent and dangerous problem for the company’s customers, officials say. The company receives complaints each week about calls to customers’ homes and businesses from scammers demanding immediate payment and threatening a service shutoff.

That's not all. The other scam is a stranger at your door, claiming to be an O&R employee or contractor.

So O&R has joined with a national group, Utilities United Against Scams, to warn customers about the danger posed by crooks who call customers’ homes or businesses or show up at their door fraudulently demanding the instant payment of their utility bills. The utilities group has declared this week to be National Scam Awareness Week and Wednesday to be National Scam Awareness Day.

Here's how the scams work:

• Scam callers fraudulently claiming to be from O&R often tell a customer that service is going to be shut off due to unpaid bills unless the customer purchases a pre-paid card or arranges for a transfer via MoneyGram to pay a bill. The scammers sometimes even tell the customer about a store near the customer's home that sells pre-paid cards. The scammer instructs the customer to pay cash by putting money on the card and to then provide the number on the card to the person who called. Once the customer provides the scammer with the card number, the scammer steals the money. With MoneyGram, scammers may ask a customer to provide money from a bank account, credit card or debit card by going online or to a specified location. The money goes into someone else’s bank account or is available for the receiver to pick up in cash.
• Scam visitors may say they are there for unscheduled work such as meter reading or emergency repairs.

Here's the truth:

• Those callers are not from O&R and O&R does not accept payments of electric or gas bills by pre-paid debit cards, or by MoneyGram or similar transfers.
• All O&R employees and contractors are required to carry color photo I.D. cards during their workday. If a person comes to your door claiming to be an O&R employee or contractor, ask to see the I.D. card.

Here are some tips:

• Be alert if anyone asks you by telephone to arrange for pre-paid debit cards or a MoneyGram transfer as payment for your bill, or to send money to an out-of-state address. Never arrange payment or divulge account or personal information, including debit or credit card information, over the telephone, unless you are certain you are speaking to an O&R representative. Never provide a Social Security number, credit card number or banking information to anyone requesting it unless you initiated the contact and know the identity of the person with whom you are speaking.
  
• If a stranger comes to your door claiming to be an O&R employee, insist that the worker produce an O&R identification card for your review before transacting any business with him or her, or permitting them into your home. If O&R has made a service appointment, O&R will provide the customer with a unique service order number. Ask the utility worker for his or her I.D. card and the service order number. If the utility worker fails to provide an ID and/or the number for the appointment, the customer is to break off contact, lock the door and call the police. Customers can also call a dedicated number, (845) 577-3526, to verify an employee’s identity.

Here's what to do if you've been victimized

Anyone who feels they may have been a target of an imposter or a payment scam should report it to their local police department. They may also call O&R at 1-877-434-4100.

Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies. O&R is a regulated utility. It provides electric service to approximately 300,000 customers in southeastern New York State (where its franchise name is Orange & Rockland) and northern New Jersey (where it’s Rockland Electric Company) and natural gas service to approximately 130,000 customers in New York.