Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Obama Going To Pay For Your Electric Bills: Not

From jsonline: A national scam touting a new federal program from President Barack Obama has reached Wisconsin and taken advantage of some electric utility customers.
The scammers are telling utility customers that President Obama or the federal government will provide credits of up to $1,000 to help offset utility costs.
Representatives of several Wisconsin utilities said they're fielding calls from confused customers about the offer. The scam artists are contacting customers by phone and even door-to-door visits in some cases, utility spokesmen said. Around the country, the scam has also been spread through text messages, social media and fliers.
Alliant Energy Corp. of Madison put its billing department on notice for the scam and found that since Thursday, between 90 and 100 “payments” have arrived with wrong bank routing numbers, all in the range of $800 to $1,000, spokesman Scott Reigstad said.
That includes Alliant customers in both Wisconsin and Iowa, he said.
The scam artists are asking for customers to provide credit card and Social Security numbers – which consumer advocates and the Better Business Bureau warn consumers not to do.
“If customers are giving out their credit card number or Social Security number for the routing number to these scammers, these identity thieves could steal money out of their accounts,” said Reigstad. “That’s the bigger problem here.”
Similar scams have been reported around the country, and it’s happening at a time when utility customers have energy costs on their minds. Air conditioners have been running around the clock during the recent heat wave, and millions of customers were without power in the eastern United States after a wave of storms late last month and last week. http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/business/161933395.html#!page=2&pageSize=10&sort=newestfirst
To be perfectly honest, of all the scams out there, this one seems believable as Obama has pretty much promised to bail out everyone and give everyone free money.  With some people who believe Obama will give them money for anything, it is no surprise that people are being fooled by this scam.

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