HELENA — During this National Consumer Protection Week, Northwestern Energy is looking to raise awareness for utility impostor scams.
In these types of scams, scammers pretend to represent electric, natural gas, water, and sewer utilities in order to steal customers’ money and personal information.
Scammers attempt to reach customers through a variety of methods such as texts, phone calls, in-person visits, and emails. They will often demand payment as well as threaten service disconnection while also claiming that the customer has missed payment on their utility bill.
A few ways in which you can avoid being scammed are by protecting your personal information, taking your time to verify who you’re paying is actually your utility company, and only paying through a verified phone number or website.
Those who believe they’ve been in contact with a scammer should reach out directly to local law enforcement as well as their local utility provider.
