New 'Predatory' Phone Scam Targets Utility Customers

PEARL RIVER, NY — The scheme goes this way: Crooks posing as O&R employees call unsuspecting customers and threaten them with the immediate shut off of their electric service during the winter’s most frigid days if they don’t pay phony O&R bills with Green Dot or other prepaid debit cards.

"The wolf is always at the door," said a spokesman for O&R. "That’s the best way to describe the latest round of persistent predatory phone calls from crooks trying to steal O&R customers’ money."

The scam artists are more aggressive and threatening than ever with this new scam, O&R officials said.

After a potential victim hansg up on them, they send a text to repeat the threat and add pressure.

O&R Officials said if someone calls you on a deep-freeze winter day, says they are an O&R employee and threatens to shut off your electric or gas service that day if not immediately paid through a prepaid debit card, hang up the phone.

A crook is trying to rob you. And, they won’t stop when you hang up. Ignore them.

Here are three reasons not to believe any crook who makes a shutoff threat:

• NO DEBIT CARDS - O&R does not accept bill payment for electric and gas utility bills by Green Dot or any other prepaid debit cards. Never has.
• NO IMMEDIATE SHUTOFF - Disconnecting O&R electric or gas service for non-payment of bills involves a multi-step process – including written communications from O&R to the customer over a period of weeks or several days, not hours. That process is regulated by the NYS Public Service Commission and NJ Board of Public Utilities.
• NO SHUTOFF in DEEP FREEZE – For residential customers only, if the temperature is 32 degrees or lower, O&R will not shut off any customer’s electric or gas service.

If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from O&R or Rockland Electric stating that a payment is required within hours and threatening to immediately shut off your service, O&R urges you to:

• Hang Up – Disengage so you’re not further subjected to the crook’s high-pressure “sales pitch.”
• Text Trouble – After you hang up on them, the more aggressive crooks will try to repeat their shutoff threat by texting you. Ignore the threat. They are crooks.
• Don’t Hit “REDIAL” – The caller ID screen on your phone for the crook’s call may read “Orange and Rockland Utilities”, but that’s a hi-tech bogus copy of the utility company’s number. That’s not O&R. Do not redial, and don’t call the number that the caller gives you to call them back. That will reconnect you to the crook.
• Fast Track - If you are unsure about whether you have an overdue balance on your O&R bill, the fastest way to find out is to call O&R’s automated phone system at 1-877-434-4100. Have your Orange and Rockland account number ready and follow the automated phone prompts to check your balance, or log onto your account through ORU.com. to see your latest account information.

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