Alabama Power joins industry partners to raise awareness on scams

Alabama Power partnered with utilities across the nation through Utilities United Against Scams (UUAS) to recognize the fifth annual Utility Scam Awareness Day on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Utility Scam Awareness Day is part of International Scam Awareness Week, an advocacy and awareness campaign focused on educating customers and exposing tactics used by scammers.

“Alabama Power is joining with our partners on Utility Scam Awareness Day with one goal in mind – to protect our customers against scams,” said Alisa Summerville, Customer Service Center director for Alabama Power. “We’ve seen a higher number of scammers trying to take advantage of our customers during the coronavirus pandemic, and this is another opportunity to equip our customers with information to identify and combat scams.”

Alabama Power is sharing tips to help customers protect themselves from false tactics used by scammers. Customers should know that Alabama Power:

• Will never call to demand an immediate payment.
• Will never call to request bank or credit card information.
• Will never come to your door to demand an immediate payment.

Here are ways to spot scams from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

Customers with any questions about the status of their Alabama Power account should not hesitate to call Customer Service at 1-800-245-2244. The automated voice system is available 24 hours a day to check account balances and status. Customers can reach a Customer Service agent weekdays from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 1-800-245-2244.

“A simple tip for our customers: If you are unsure if a call is a scam, hang up and contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-245-2244,” Summerville added.

UUAS, a consortium of more than 145 U.S. and Canadian electric, water and natural gas utilities and their respective trade associations, continues to build awareness of common scams and new scam tactics being used during the pandemic. Through its work and with the help of customer reporting, UUAS has succeeded in taking out of operation nearly 6,000 toll-free numbers used by scammers against utility customers.

“It is no surprise that scammers have been seeking to exploit the heightened anxiety of people coping with the pandemic,” said UUAS founder and Executive Committee Chairman Jared Lawrence. “I am proud to report that UUAS education efforts and utilities well-publicized customer testimonials have prevented a drastic increase in victims. However, the relentless attempts by these criminals make it clear that we must continue to actively work to protect our customers and to keep scammers from casting confusion on our pandemic recovery messages.”

The Federal Trade Commission website provides additional information about protecting personal information and other information regarding impostor scams.

Visit www.utilitiesunited.org for more information and tips on how customers can protect themselves from impostor utility scams. Follow along with UUAS on Twitter and Facebook.

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)