By Mary Alice Murphy
A friend contacted the Beat and told of an experience she and others in her neighborhood had had on Thursday afternoon.
She reported a young man was going door-to-door, claiming to be representing a company that would save 15% on their electricity bills. The young man was wearing what appeared to be a "company shirt" with a hard-to-read company name on the pocket. A neighbor, who refused to answer the door, noted there was a car at the foot of their driveway with three occupants waiting for the doorbell-ringer.
The friend said she cut short the encounter by asking to be mailed something about the supposed offer and reported the young man said they'd be back in our neighborhood again in a few days.
She did an internet search and came up with this article https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-02-2013/beware-utility-company-scams.html. She noted the second item in the article fit her encounter to a "T."
Always be wary if someone who is allegedly representing a utility company, phone company, the town water system, wherever you might have an account, asks for your account number. That is a RED flag, because if they are truly representing the company, they would not need your account number, because they already have it. Plus, they would have notified you ahead of time if they planned to come to your house for a repair or inspection.
The first item in the article has happened to me "warning" me of a potential shutdown, but since I know whether the bill has been paid or not, I simply hang up.
Read the whole article, because the third one is often a setup for a quick burglary if no one is home, as may have been indicated by the additional people in the car in this case, or just a scoping out of a home for a future burglary. It's always best not to answer the door to someone you don't know or who is not in an official vehicle, without official credentials.
Phone scams are always prevalent. Again, if you don't recognize the caller ID, or if the person on the phone speaks with a strong accent or is hard to understand, it's probably a scam. Just hang up. Frequent occurrences this year have been calls saying your Social Security card has been compromised or some such. The U.S. Government never calls you about an issue. You will receive a letter from whichever agency wishes to contact you, whether IRS, Social Security Administration or Federal Trade Commission. They will NOT call you.
Of course, "phishing," through email or texting, is another scam you must look out for. The so-called "Nigerian letters" of the past have become emails. They outrageously offer you millions of dollars if you reply with your bank account number so they can transfer the money. Be warned that the transfer will be OUT of your account, not into it! Delete the email.
If you get emails from senders that look like they are someone you deal with, telling you your such-and-so email account or other account will be stopped immediately without payment or if you do not click on the link, DO NOT CLICK on the link. A trick I learned long ago, and perhaps many of you also know of it, if you put your cursor over the email address and click on the little drop-down arrow, you will see the address and you can tell if it is a fake email address having noting to do with the company it purports to be from.
It's become a complicated world, and the scammers and crooks continue to pursue their tricks. Do NOT fall for them.
Report the issue to your local law enforcement agency. If it is not something they can deal with, they will let you know. However, if the "suspects" are still in the neighborhood, law enforcement may be able to take action by intercepting them and questioning them. Local law enforcement generally cannot handle phone or email scams, but can tell you where to report them, and they may also be able to issue news releases warning people of the scams.