Victoria Scam Alert: The Electric Company Collection Threat

The Victoria Police Department is warning residents of an attempt to scam unwary residents out of their cash.

According to a press release, a resident reported that someone claiming to be from TXU Energy called their home, told the resident that they had an outstanding balance and payment needed to be made right away. The caller insisted that payment be made by a prepaid check card. That's two huge red flags.

First of all, in the case of an outstanding balance due and the possibility of service disconnection, legitimate companies would never call you to demand payment, they would send you a notice in the mail. Secondly, while prepaid check cards are accepted by utilities and other companies, it's not required that customers pay that way.

Unfortunately, the resident that notified the police about the scam had made 2 payments before calling the company to verify that their payments were received.

According to police, here are a few tips to avoid being a victim yourself.

Your electricity provider won’t call to threaten disconnection of services without having  first sent several written notices that your account is past due.

Your electricity provider will gladly accept any form of payment you offer and not demand payment in prepaid debit cards.

If you get a call similar to this, simply hang up. Your phone's caller ID might display the name of your utility but don’t put complete faith in that. There are plenty of spoofing apps available that scammers can use to make it appear that the call is coming from another number. Just hang up.

The best way to be sure that the call was legitimate would be to call the number of the company in question that you find on your bill or, look up the number in the phone book or online. Never call the number that may have appeared on your caller ID. You could also check your account status by visiting the company's website to see your current account status.