A common Con Ed scam is circulating once again and the utility carrier warns customers to be on the lookout. Our Susan Jhun has the details.
Florist Constantine Stamos says he's sick of callers supposedly from Con Edison telling him he's delinquent on paying his business' electric bill.
"Once a week we get a call somebody from Con Edison," said Stamos. "Yes this Con Edison, not asking for a manager or owner, informing us that there's a disconnect notice because of tardiness in payment.
Followed by an urgent order to make a payment immediately through a prepaid card to avoid service being shut off.
Stamos says he has auto payment so he knew it was a scam right away, but he worries others might not be as lucky.
"If it happens to me, it can happen to anyone," Stamos said. "Can you imagine some little old lady? Even the idea of disconnect or whatever. It's a threat.
And it's a common one according to Con Edison.
"Unfortunately, we've seen a lot of activity this year," said Allan Drury, a spokesman for ConEd. "We're getting ten to twenty complaints a day. So it's dozens per week."
Con Ed says customers from all over, residential and business are targeted so everyone needs to be aware.
"We don't accept payment via prepaid debit card or by money gram or similar transfers, so if somebody asks you to do that then that call is not coming from Con Edison," said Drury.
To report these scams call Con Ed's Hotline at 1-800-752-6633.