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Consumer Protection : Advice from The Bucks County Consumer Advocates

March 2006

Q. I am seventy years old and want to share a scam with your office and warn others. Last week I got a letter that was supposed to be from my electric company, PECO. The letter said changes in the billing address had occurred and I should mail my payments to a new address. I called PECO and they told me it was a scam. Can you please tell other people so no one gets themselves in trouble? A.R., Andalusia

A. We called PECO and confirmed that a hoax letter has originated in South Carolina and does in fact ask customers to mail their payment to another address. PECO representatives would like to remind customers that they send a billing statement with a pre-addressed envelope. If anyone has sent a payment to the fraudulent address, call your bank and cancel the payment immediately. PECO customers can call their customer service number at 800-494-4000 for help. Scams and hoaxes come in every form and every media style and our advice is always the same. If you get a letter, email or phone call from any company that you normally do business with or have a relationship with, never give any information out. Use the number that you know is legitimate and call the business to confirm the correspondence is real.

Q. I received a call from a company offering me health insurance. Since I don’t have any health insurance I was interested. I was asked several questions and I answered them, giving them my personal information. I even gave them my bank routing number so they could withdraw th e membership fee right out of my account. After I hung up I became concerned. I don’t have anything in writing showing me what I am going to receive for my money. What should I do? D.I., Levittown

A. Contact your bank immediately and explain to them what happened. Let them know that you are not sure if you have just been scammed and do not want them to be able to withdrawal money from your account. Call the company back and explain that you would like to receive an information packet in the mail so you can read over what plan you would receive for your money. Consumers should be leery about giving out personal information over the phone to someone who calls them. You really do not know who is actually on the other line asking you the questions. It could be a scam, and the scam artist could be looking for your personal information so they can steal your identity. Always ask for information to be sent to you by mail before you give any of your information. This way you have all the information on the company and you can check them out to see if they actually exist. Please contact Bucks County Consumer Protection at 1-800-942-2669 for free information on Identity Theft. It is better to be safe then sorry.