Scammers targeting Grant PUD customers

If you get a phone call from someone claiming that you owe money on your utility or other bill and need to make an immediate payment over the phone of your utilities will be shut off- hang up.

Officials with the Grant County Sheriff's Office say they've taken several reports from customers who fell for the con and gave money to the scammers.

The victims reported that the caller ID made it appear that the call was legitimate.

“The best thing customers can do when they receive these types of calls are to hang up the phone and if possible block the number,” said Chuck Allen, Grant PUD Public Affairs supervisor. “If customers are unsure about the status of their account, they can always call us at our customer service number, which is 509-766-2505 to talk to a Customer Service Representative in our call center here in Grant County.”
Allen added that scammers are growing more and more sophisticated in their approach.

Allen said there are times when Grant PUD employees do make legitimate courtesy calls to notify customers if a payment is overdue, but in these cases, the local person making those calls is doing this to inform the customer of their account status and does not try to get the customer to make an immediate decision over the phone.

“Even if we are making a legitimate courtesy call to our customers, we promise we won’t mind if the customer tells us they are going to hang up and call us back to verify the call,” Allen said.