Jackson EMC officials are issuing a warning to customers about yet the latest move by scammers to victimize people via the phone.
The latest scam is similar to previous ones in that victims get a call from someone claiming to be with the utility. The caller claims the customer is delinquent on their account and must make immediate payment or risk having their electric service turned off.
The difference, according to Jackson EMC, has to do with something called spoofing.
"You get a phone call, and your caller ID says it’s your power company. If you call the number back to check, it even has a recording that sounds like your power company," a media release from the EMC stated.
Officials said, "more sophisticated scammers have even copied or duplicated your power company’s recorded options to fool you further."
Some scam callers will ask for payment via cash card, something EMC officials said no legitimate utility will do.
"Our utility will never contact a customer and demand immediate payment. We will mail a delinquent notice and then give the customer time to pay and never make a demand for immediate payment of any sort, "Jackson EMC Director of Customer Service Brent Cochran said.
He said the EMC put out the notice because more and more customers have reported it over the last several weeks.
"I think this is happening also, we're hearing, at Georgia Power as well, so it's not just isolated. It's apparently widespread, and not just electric. It's also some gas utilities from what we're hearing as well," Cochran added.
He said customers concerned about past due bills should call their utility using the phone number in a phone book, their bill or the company's website.
