I Almost Got Hooked by the Most Convincing Scam Call I've Ever Had!

Hello WA friends and community.

I wanted to take a moment this morning to share with you an experience I had yesterday where I received the most convincing scam call I've ever had before, (and believe me, I've had many such calls).

The call came while I was at work so I didn't have access to any important paperwork or my computer to dispute the information that was being given to me by this caller.

He claimed to be from Rocky Mountain Power, which is one of two main power supply companies that I know of here in Utah, and he stated that he was calling "as a last resort" before my power was to be shut off.

He claimed that two billing cycles had been missed and that they'd sent out that many notices in the mail which he claimed had not been responded to.

Now, as I stated above, I'm not someone who is ignorant or inexperienced in getting scam calls, emails and the like, and several things immediately sent up red flags with me regarding what he was telling me.

First of all, I know that few "professional" companies will make a call like this, threatening to shut off your power for whatever reason, when I had NOT received any notifications about any problems. Quite the opposite, in fact. I had just received my latest power bill only a few days prior and it did not indicate any problems of any sort.

Furthermore, I was 99% confident I hadn't missed any of my payments. I thought perhaps it's possible I may have forgotten to make ONE payment over the past few months, but certainly not two payments, and I was pretty certain I hadn't missed ANY!

A third red flag was the fact that he said he was from Rocky Mountain Power, which I was fairly confident was NOT my power provider. When I said that my power is supplied through Logan City, (the city in which I reside) he told me that Logan City is "one of their subsidiaries".

I began to express some of these red flags to the caller and informed him that his call was sounding more and more like a scam to me. He assured me that it was not a scam, and tried to console me by claiming that if I really hadn't received any of the notifications they'd mailed to me, then I could "speak to his supervisor to let him know that information, which would be an important factor in preventing my power from being shut off".

When I explained that I was at work and didn't have time to talk to his supervisor at the moment, he strongly urged me to take down a 1-800 number that I "should call immediately to prevent my power from being shut off."

He first claimed that a technician had already been dispatched to shut off my power, and that the only way to stop it was to speak to a supervisor and inform them I had not received any notifications about missed payments. Then a few seconds later, he claimed that my power could be shut off "remotely" and that they didn't even need to send out a technician.

This was the fourth red flag... inconsistent claims about sending a technician, then claiming to not even need one sent out. Contradictions in his claims.

However, my power is very important to me, especially where I have a wife who suffers from several health problems and needs to have her breathing machine operational when she's having difficulty breathing. Not to mention I'm pretty reliant upon my electricity to run my business in the evenings when I'm not working my day job.

Thus, I took down the 1-800 number, as well as my "Case Reference Number", which I was instructed to give to his supervisor when I called the number he provided.

When I DID call that number, it was quite convincing, as it had the automated answering service which did identify them as being Rocky Mountain Power. You know what I mean, the female automated "operator" says something like: "Thank you for calling Rocky Mountain Power... if you're calling about a problem with your service, press one... If you're calling about a billing issue, press two..." and so on.

When I pressed the number for billing and someone answered providing his name and asking how he could help, I explained to him the call I'd just received and that I had not been previously informed about any such problems and in fact had just received my most recent power bill which didn't indicate any problems, either.

I informed him that I don't believe I've missed any of my payments and that I was extremely suspicious of this being a scam call because of all the red flags I listed above.

He assured me it wasn't a scam and asked if I had a reference number, which I provided to him. When he supposedly pulled up my information using the said reference number, he started trying to sound out "Absurd-i-tees", which is the t-shirt subsidiary of my business. When I realized what it was he was trying to sound out, I said it for him and explained that that was a subsidiary of my business but should have absolutely NOTHING to do with my power bill or account, so this was yet ANOTHER red flag!

Then he asked me for my name, which I provided, then immediately realized he should already have that most basic information already when he supposedly just pulled up my account using the reference number. That was ANOTHER red flag, and the last I was going to tolerate.

I began telling him that I had to be honest and that this was sounding more and more like some kind of scam call and I was VERY reluctant to provide him ANY additional information.

He suggested I call the number on my power bill if I was concerned about this being a scam, which I told him I'm would already have done were it not for the fact that I'm at work and don't have access to that information at the moment.

At that point, he hung up on me, which was yet ANOTHER red flag indicating to me that he was NOT a professional, and probably not from the power company he claimed to be from.

When I took my lunch, I grabbed my latest power bill and verified that, first off, there were no problems with my account that would have been indicated on that bill if there had been such. I also verified that there was a number I could call for customer service.

I had to return to work but took the bill with me intending to call if I had a moment at work where I could do so. I didn't get the chance, as we were quite busy yesterday, but I wanted to see if my power had been shut off as threatened, which it had not been.

I haven't called customer service about this scam call yet, but intend to do so if for no other reason than to confirm that there are no problems or issues, and to inform them that these kind of calls are being made to their customers.

Anyway, this call was for me, the most convincing, (and scary) scams I've ever encountered, and I wanted to inform everyone about this scam in case scammers are trying the same kind of thing in your locality.

It really angers me that this kind of crap is what we have to constantly be alert to and cautious of, and that there are these kinds of cold, calculating and wretched people in the world trying to deceive honest people just trying to survive and get by in life. Perhaps them trying to do the same is how they can justify to themselves that making a living in this manner is acceptable or necessary, whatever.

Either way, it's a fact of life that we've all got to deal with, so the better informed and aware we are about the kinds of scams that are being perpetrated out there, then the more prepared we'll be to deal with them when we're being targeted by them.

Thanks for reading, and as always, I appreciate any comments you'd like to share.

Kevin