LOUISVILLE, Ky. — One of the latest scams to hit the Louisville community comes from a prominent utility company, asking for nearly $400 dollars or your service would be cut.
LG&E-KU customer Wendy Glass made a post on Facebook saying she got a call from the utility company's main customer contact line — only to learn later it was what's called spoofing.
"We're not going to contact you and ask for money. That's your first dead giveaway," LG&E-KU Spokesperson Daniel Lowry said. "These scam artists are very tricky... Masked over so the number look like it's our phone number."
Glass says the caller said service would be disconnected that night unless she were to pay a bill owed of $398.
While she knew something was fishy, and didn't pay, she admits if it were her father on the line, who lives with her, he would have followed through in fear of losing electricity.
"We're not going to call and ask for credit card or debit card information," Lowry said. "We're not going to call you and say you're overdue, pay us now. We do that through our billing."
He said scammers like these want to make you feel pressure to act quickly, but same-day disconnections don't happen.
"We are not going to do that. We make sure to give our customers plenty of time, more than a month to make sure you can straighten that out," Lowry said.
He said they're working with law enforcement agencies to combat these issues, but the community can help by reporting problems when they see them. This includes writing down the scammers' numbers in the on-going effort to deactivate them.
If you feel you may be getting scammed, or notice something suspicious, please call LG&E-KU at (502) 589-1444 or go to their website to confirm a call's legitimacy.
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