There have been an increase in reports of utility bill scams in New York State, and National Grid wants to eliminate, or at least minimize, the likelihood of a scam happening to you.

There are a few tell-tale indications that someone may be attempting to pose at National Grid to scam you, and here’s one warning sign: claiming you have a past due balance on your bill.

Imposters claiming to be from National Grid may even promise you a savings on your next bill if you opt to pay the past due balance now.

Another warning sign is the threats that follow after the initial interaction. For example, a scammer may threaten to turn off your services unless you purchase a prepaid debit card in a specific amount. They may ask for a prepaid visa, MasterCard, Green Dot, etc. Do not fall for this. The scammer will request you to pass along the information of that prepaid card, and then they will take your money. 

There are other scammers from National Grid who may not be as coy about it. A third warning sign is when someone calls you posing to be from National Grid and they ask you for personal information, such as Social Security numbers or your National Grid account numbers. Be cautious before giving this out to anyone. 

If you own a business, you may be more of a target to these scams. It isn’t unlike National Grid imposters to contact business owners and ask for money by way of a Western Union money transfer.

It’s hard to tell when it may be a scammer calling or someone who is legitimately from National Grid, because scammers will sometimes spoof a National Grid number on caller IDs to make it look like they are credible.

It may sound like a challenge to be able to successfully identify when a National Grid call is real or not, and one thing you should note is that yes, National Grid does occasionally call customers regarding past due balances and offer payment options — but they will never demand payment via a prepaid debit card.

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