By Colleen Rothe

Since December 2007, I’ve been waiting for the corporate headquarters folks to call me from Puget Sound Energy. We are in dispute. They claim I owe payments for power to a house I used to live in. The bill is for a six-month period of time when I did not live in the home.

They acknowledge there’s something amiss, but they are investigating. However, by the terms of the agreement any PSE customer enters when receiving power or gas from them, I am bound to pay the bill until it can be fully investigated and determined one way or another. They have all my documentation and evidence, but I need to wait in line. Each month I call them to determine my status. Each month, the kind customer service reps say that my case is being reviewed and I should have a call from “the corporate folks” soon.

My situation above should be a lesson to those who might actually get a call from the power company. A scam hitting all over the country, but especially in the flood-torn Midwest, where attention is not on point for scams, but just survival, folks are getting calls from their power companies. Or so the caller claims. The call comes in to the customer telling them that their payment hasn’t been received and that unless they pay right that moment, the company will be forced to shut off service. Panicked, many conscientious consumers pull out their credit card or checkbook and make the payment. Making that payment means they’ve just been duped by the latest identity theft scam.

They acknowledge there’s something amiss, but they are investigating. However, by the terms of the agreement any PSE customer enters when receiving power or gas from them, I am bound to pay the bill until it can be fully investigated and determined one way or another. They have all my documentation and evidence, but I need to wait in line. Each month I call them to determine my status. Each month, the kind customer service reps say that my case is being reviewed and I should have a call from “the corporate folks” soon.

My situation above should be a lesson to those who might actually get a call from the power company. A scam hitting all over the country, but especially in the flood-torn Midwest, where attention is not on point for scams, but just survival, folks are getting calls from their power companies. Or so the caller claims. The call comes in to the customer telling them that their payment hasn’t been received and that unless they pay right that moment, the company will be forced to shut off service. Panicked, many conscientious consumers pull out their credit card or checkbook and make the payment. Making that payment means they’ve just been duped by the latest identity theft scam.

Reports out of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and other areas along the Mississippi River valleys have reported having given out their credit card, bank account, social security and other personal information, and then discovered their information was used to pay for meals in New York restaurants, cash withdrawals overseas, and even to purchase baby diapers at Target down in Louisiana.

Don’t think that the caller ID on your phone will keep you safe either. In many of the cases reported in the Midwest, the caller ID did not give any of the scammed consumers pause that it wasn’t a legitimate power company call. Caller ID numbers can be hacked and misrepresented. It’s not a fail safe.

Most companies send you written notification and require you to work through their website for instant payments. To make payment arrangements, you have to call the power company, not the other way around. Additionally, you can use the secret question for the person on the other end to verify they are who they are. Even then it requires your account number and other various security measures.

Consumers need to always remember to never give any key information over the telephone. However, I can tell you from personal experience, you’ll be waiting a long time for the power company to actually call you. If they do, you better make sure you know who you’re talking to, because it’s likely it’s not who you think.