Victim Location 75040
Type of a scam Utility
I received a call from this number. The person on the phone was not a native English speaker. They told me my utilities were being disconnected in 45 minutes. I told them I live in an unincorporated city and they aren’t my utility provider. I looked up the phone number on Google and the number belongs to a Kk Automotive. I asked the caller if they were Kk Automotive. He said yes. Then proceeded to tell me my utilities would be disconnected in 45 minutes. I was given the name of Joshua Miller by the scammer. I called back told got a different name. I called a third time and didn’t give my name. I told repeated their spiel to them and told them they had a bill due today and wanted to know if they would like to pay it before they are disconnected in 45 minute. The person I called is Robert Garcia that time. The fourth time was Victor somebody. I did ask them to verify their address is the one I found on Google. They said it was their home office. I then told them I was calling them with the same scam they are trying to perpetrate on me. I had not given them my name. The man said, "I’m sorry, ***." and then hung up.
Victim Location 75110
Type of a scam Utility
The scammers claimed to be Reliant Energy. They called and said that our electricity was going to be cut off in 30 minutes due to non payment and to call back at the 1-800 number listed above. After arguing with them for about 30 minutes about our zero balance, they said they would submit a dispute but that it would take 24-48 hours for our electricity to be restored. They then said that I needed to make the past due payment so that my electricity could be restored and said they would refund the amount I paid once they settled the payment dispute. They put me on hold, gave me a confirmation number, and even had the amount due from one of my statements. The only way we could avoid our electricity being cutoff would be to make an express payment. To make an express payment, you can go to any Walgreens, Walmart, Family Dollar, Dollar General to make this express payment, and you can only use a debit card or cash.
After this, I realized it was likely this was a scam and noticed the number for customer service was different than the one on my statement. To verify, I called the customer service number at Reliant Energy. They verified that I indeed had a zero balance and that they would NEVER call to tell us that our electricity was being disconnected.