I work for DTE energy, we got the same scam call to our senior system supervisor line. We're officially DTE energy branding wise, and we sell both electricity and gas. We can remotely shut you off, it's rather easy to turn on or off from our control system, and that includes commercial buildings and their units. We have also suspended disconnections until the pandemic is over.
I got the same call, Steve --- I made a deal with them, though --- they said that if I came out there and cut your power-lines with my bolt-cutters, they would let me keep my own power connected :D
I keep getting calls from "your financial institution" about fraud on my credit card. I work for the IT department of my financial institution. I try to talk to a human, then ask them why they are calling [company name's fraud department] to try to commit fraud. Note. the fraud department is the next set of cubes over from mine. they are always amused.
This is a classic. I was a programmer at a CU (grouped in with IT) previously as well. While I never entertained a call about fraud on my CC, it was a fun experience to be a part of the inner workings.
Around here, the utility companies hang a tag on the front doorknob when they are going to shut off something. And since I never use the front door, I never know it's there.
That's true we got them too, but they give you days to fix your balance not 30 minutes. But yeah no one comes to your place they do it remotely. I had a bad situation once and they cut my power, I can tell you it's all computer doing it cause when I paid my bill I just called a number, didn't speak to a human just pressed a button confirming I did my payment and 30 secs after I pressed the button power was back on.
@@ffggddss lol, good point they don't, you receive a letter from the utility co. with a 14 days deadline to pay the bill before they actually cut the power.
Wow. I just had the same experience while answering a call at my parents home in Florida last week. I had the pleasure of speaking to a live person LOL. They said that my parents electric bill was three months past due and service would be cut off in 23 minutes. Right away I knew it was a scam so I started questioning this gentleman. Once I started questioning him, he became very irate and said a few choice swear words with his foreign accent. I just started to laugh and told him that I was on to him and hung up. Good video Steve.
Many of these scammers are located in India. Although such scamming is illegal there, they thrive since they are often paying of the police and get warned to move out before the shops get raided. They often use a lot of profanity if callers let them know that they are onto the scam attempt.
I've gotten a bit of amusement from "scam likely" calls by answering "Good morning/ afternoon/evening 'Scam Likely', how are you doing today?" Most of the buggers either don't answer at all, or immediately hang up the phone! 😁😁😁😁 Gotta love Caller ID! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Back in the 90s, while working on generation for a small private utility in Three Rivers MI, I heard the story of a utility in a small community near there. The utility also owned a dairy delivery service. The milk bill and electric utility bill were paid by putting the payment in the empty milk bottles.
Just tell them that you'll pay the guys when they show up to turn off the power. You could argue that they would get paid faster that way and it could be in cash.
My gf got several calls from Social Security. We figured they were scam calls, and indeed on the SS website it had a reporting form if you got such a call. So I was filling out the form (my gf asked me to help, and I don't often get a chance to wear the hero cape). As I was going through filling out the form, the physhing call came in again! Sometimes the dialing program hiccups and you get the same call a dozen times. "Let me get that information for you; please wait!" lay the phone down without hanging up and go about your life. As the person on the other end says, "Hello? Are you still there?" you say stuff like, "I'm trying to find the documents, please be patient." It helps if you don't laugh out loud.
I'm so glad the deactivated me ssn. Now I don't have to worry about scammers or anyone buying stuff on my ssn. I guess I'll go and reactivate it when I retire.
I'm older and live with my brother. He gets calls all the time and we have fun. Pretend we are real old and walk slow stuff like that. He has actually faked a heart attack and other injuries. Sometimes they wait but have never responded
Best reason to not have smart meters. If the utility can do it, what do you think hackers will do? Turn it off and deploy ransomware maybe? How much to turn the lights back on in Detroit? 1000BTC? More?
@@builtontherockhomestead9390 sounds like they don't have network connectivity for at least some of those meters. It can still save them $ if they only have to drive close enough to connect over some ~ 500-900GHZ radio link. Or maybe they do have a network but your place is in a Not-Spot that is not in range yet.
I question whether your power can be shut off remotely at the meter. If they do have such power switches, then the meters are a large fire risk. The meters are smaller than the old analog meters and there just is not enough room for the heavy duty relay and room to swing the three contacts. The limited swing room would just about guarantee the generation of large electrical arcs that might not extinguish. Around here, power companies do not pull meters, they send around a utility truck with a lift bucket to disconnect the primary hot lead of the pole pig from the HV feeder.
@@buggsy5 Stop questioning. Smart meters can be shut off, just like a TV can be shut off with a remote control. They also take meter readings remotely so nobody has to physically go to the meter to read it.
PG&E in CA uses smart meters that can turn you off and on in seconds. However during this pandemic, PG&E has all disconnects for non payment on hold until further notice..
@@ryanmace8804 Having power to your home requires a permit from the City or County. They can revoke your permit for breaking the rules and get the power shut off. The homeowner would have to fight it out in court. Getting a new permit issued could cost a homeowner thousands.
When I lived in Houston, I thought I had set up my power for auto pay. Well apparently there was a glitch in the web page and auto pay did not go through. I got a paper letter in a plain envelope from the power company the following month. I didn't open it because I thought I had auto pay. Apparently it was a late payment notice and they cut off my power the same week. Luckily my wife was able to talk to the lineman who cut off the power and he said to call the power company to straighten it out and he will be back in...get this...30 minutes! So we were actually able to get our power reconnected in 30 minutes! I should have went out and got a lottery ticket 😄
In Sweden, all disconnects are scheduled to 5 minutes before closing of the office on a Friday. Most popular day is December 23'd, one day before the long Christmas holiday starts and none in the office will be available until after New Year.
Hi Steve, talking about the screwups with the post office, while I was in the hospital my son sent me a letter and I was 80 miles away. He mailed the letter on a Friday and I didn't receive it until the following week on a Saturday. I asked my son to ship my laptop to me, he took to the local UPS pickup point on a Thursday and the next day my laptop was delivered. Anytime I am expecting a package delivery from the post office, it never fails to show up way late. My carrier usually shows up between 2:30 - 3:30 pm and when it doesn't arrive by that time I call the post office and I find out my normal letter carrier took the day off and the route I am on is divided between the other carriers. Every time I am expecting a package the normal carrier takes a day off or calls in sick.
I think I have said this before, if you get a scam phone call, keep them on the line as long as possible, play dumb, ask them arbitrary questions, what did they have for breakfast, are they married? Say you don't remember why they called. String them along, make up stuff, they will eventually hang up on you, but if they think you are stupid (and they do) they will stay on the phone for a while.
What I get all the time in the UK is an automated phone message claiming to be from Amazon. It notifies me that my subscription is about to renew and in three days' time my card will be charged with 39.95 unless I call back to cancel. The clever thing about this is that like a lot of people I do have a subscription for Amazon Prime, but 39.95 sounds too high so I can see how somebody might be tempted to call back.
Entergy, here in Louisiana, has a date on the bill that if you haven't paid in full by that date, they will be at your meter shutting off your electricity that morning. no ifs, ands, or buts.
I had one of these about two years ago at my business in northern Illinois. Claimed it was from my electric company ( ComEd ), I knew right away, for the same reason, they claimed power would be shut off in an hour. I hung up, called ComEd and reported to them that someone was doing this. I gave them the spoofed number being used, not that they could really do anything about that. Have never seen or heard of the scam at home in Wisconsin. Prob due to the lower popular density, just worth it to target denser areas i suppose. Eventually we'll prob make it to their to-do list, lol!
In the last big storm we had in MI the power was out for a day and a half with 300k+ locations effected. The DTE website had half the state highlighted on its outage map, and nobody at DTE could provide any ETA or updates. So when I got this call shortly afterwards, I was well aware of the 4747 in DTE's number. So as opposed to the average scammer, these jerks clearly had done their homework...
As someone previously commented, they do have smart meters where, with the push of a button, they can shut your power off in seconds. We have them here and, ask me how I know. LOL
the snow cats at the ski area I worked at in the high Sierras, had cat engines that the factory would shut off by satellite if they were late on their lease payment. Never trusted on-star because of that.
@@LuckyBaldwin777 Many car dealers do this also nowadays. Especially smaller used car lots and particularly buy here/pay here lots. Once the car is turned off, they give you a very limited amount of time to make a payment. If payment isn't received they quickly tow and reposes the car. They know exactly where the car is because the shut off device also has GPS in it. Even some car rental companies use this system if you don't return the car by the due date.
@@charleskosyjana1295 with the cats, the 'shut off device' is the engine computer. They send a satellite signal that turns off the engine computer and that disables the fuel system
My caller ID pops up on my TV and half of them are Duquesne Light or maybe it says DQE. We don't answer but I thought it was to switch my electric company not this.
I had a phone number used by a scammer for spoofing. I got several calls and dozens of texts per minute from the people who missed the scammer and got the message. The Phone company said they could do nothing about it, so I had them give me a new phone number. I am still mad at the phone company, the rep pretended that this was new to them. I think if our phone bills were reduced by law one dollar for every scam call the phone companies allowed, the problem would cease to exist instantly.
I once did warranty service for a Name brand TV manufacturer. I received a service call for a customer who lived in a very rural area on the other side of the county. No one was going to be home so I stopped by the customer's work and picked up a house key. Found the house and there was no power. Went around the side of the house and the meter was gone. Thought about jumping the contacts long enough to repair the TV ( I was a power production specialist in the Air Force so could do it safely). Looked up at the pole and the disconnect was open so that wouldn't work. Returned the key to the customer and he was dumbfounded at what I found. A week later completed the repair after receiving another call and being assured the power would be on. Guess who paid for that first service call.....NO ONE!
My Mom got one of those calls at home that her power would be cut off (no immediate time frame if I remember) was very convincing. She did a payment over the phone (CC companies were doing this at the time) on her CC and then called me as she was concerned because she always makes her payment on time. I had her call the CC company and they reversed the charge and told her she wasn't the first person to call today. Also, also ALWAYS lookup the number yourself for whatever company is claimed and call that number back. Always.
The worst scam call I always get is the "Your vehicle warranty is about to expire." Though I did once get an operator from one of those. I was going to be all freaking out about my warranty expiring, however I started out with, "I own a 1970 VW Beetle." They instantly hung up. :(
I can't even begin to tell you how many calls I get daily like this. I have gotten so many over the last 2 years and have blocked so many numbers that I have run into the problem of having blocked new numbers I need.
if you have a ""smart meter""it has a sim card in it and all it takes is a phone call so be warned they peddled the in the uk i told them no i will keep the one i have
the 30 mins to respond... that is to make a sense of urgency... to make people do what they want without thinking... then they try to get you to give the information to 'verify' you account... I do have a friend that did actually get cut off because over winter he couldn't afford the entire bill, but would pay it off over summer. He shrugged when they disconnected him, got a couple more solar panels, and now has no grid connection and runs fully off-grid :) He did pay them off, eventually, but never bothered paying for a reconnect!
I work in the corporate office for a dialysis company, and I get contacted multiple time per month by facility managers reporting this exact same scam. In my experience utility companies rarely bother to call you (they mail you or leave notices on your door), and and if they do it is usually to inform you of the disconnect happening over the next several days. I have yet to find a single threat to shut off the service in 30 minutes that was legitimate.
My made up scam name now has a life of his own. He gets calls for car warranties, back braces, diabetic supplies, etc. They all know his address, birthday, ssn and medicare number 😁
I got that same scam on voice-mail at 5am as I was getting ready for work one day months ago. I quickly checked my DTE app and saw I wasn't behind but due soon so I sent the payment. Thanks for the ironically timely reminder scammer. 😉 Then I goggled it and found several sites exposing the scam including DTE.
Hey Steve, here in Idaho, they have gone to wireless meters and they can shut your power on or off in under 30 min. When I had a renter move out and called Idaho power to to turn on the power, it took me a 7 min phone call and then, within 5 min it was turned back on, so 12 min total
I am UK I get telephone scams all the time telling me my internet provider is going to terminate my account and I need to press 1 to talk to them. This hasn't happened yet and have been getting them for the last 36 months. Also get someone calling saying there is a problem with my internet connection and they are from Talk Talk. When advised I am not with Talk Talk they say that they provide the service even though they are not my provider. My next door neighbour keeps the conversation going just to waste their time and basically they want to remotely access your computer. I feel sorry for the more vulnerable in our society. These foreigners are despicable.
A lot of times a 1-800 number is just attached to a number like 313-etc. But I'm glad you mentioned the spoof numbers. I often get calls with people saying they were calling me back that I never called. Usually ends up being friendly.
Funny! Here the power company is fairly efficient with their admin stuff, but they often tell clients behind in their bill that if they get the payment in before the crews get to their address they may not get it shut off. So here they usually have at least a day of slack once folks are on the turn off list.
I have had people call me saying that I called them and left a scam message. It happens every 6 or so months. They are usually nice about it. In NC there are meter boxes that can be turned off or on remotely. I have one, and due to a mix-up they turned our power off. I called thinking it was just an outage but found out that it was one house over that the power should have been turned off (the owner passed away) when that was figured out power was back on before the call ended. In total it was less than 20 minutes from off to on. It was weird seeing my lights turn on and my neighbors turn off.
OPUS or hopeless as its often called in the UK which is typically a business supplier does have a system like this. They have been fitting smart meters which if your late paying they can now cut off the supply at the press of a button. They charge around £300 to disconnect you and pretty much as much as they want to reconnect you. At the press of a button. One heck of a b/s company
There has been a wave of phone scams in Finland. They often use UK prefix +44. In my case however when I rejected a +44 call, I got immediately (I mean literally under a second after I pressed the red button) a call from +302 (Greece) and when I rejected that I got a call from +385 (Croatia). My guess is that they use +302 because Finnish companies can use 030 company numbers (rarely though) for outgoing calls and +385 because Finnish country code is +358 so they want you think it's from Finland if you glance fast. Also for the UK number when I searched it, I found out that the number they use is part of a number chunk that British telephone authority has reserved to be "television and film" use so they will never be allocated to a real subscriber but they can be safely used in a tv or movie production since it will never be a working number.
Reason they can’t trace spoofed numbers: the numbers are being spoofed using VOIP (voice over internet protocol) that will report any number you choose to Caller ID or none at all; further, since the call originates outside the phone system, it has no traceable info the way a real phone number does.
It's easy to get a non-working number. Just start to sign up for a VOIP line and you will get a large list of unassigned numbers. I would guess that most of them stay in that pool for some time.
not always. i am getting phone calls from a bank saying "attention, attention". and when i tried calling them back a recording said "you are now in our system" and then prompted me to enter my account number and password to get into my account. i thought that was a weird one.
I've gotten calls from someone claiming to be in collections department (or something similar) of "Visa Mastercard". Now aside from them being competitors, I know that they are franchised to individual financial institutions, and it would be the "bank" that would pursue a debt. I also get them just from Visa - I don't have an active Visa account with anybody!
Hey Steve, I listen to your show in podcast form but figured I'd come here to let you know how these scammers use the phone system. I work in infosec and did some digging on how they get away with this. They use VoIP companies usually using a hacked account or paying with a stolen credit card to set up either in-coming or out-going phone calls and while the VoIP companies can trace these to an IP address it requires LE and normally they're located in a country where nothing can be done to catch them or they use VPN/TOR/proxy servers to hide their real IP address anyhow. Unfortunately I don't see the practice stopping anytime soon. The good news is most phone companies have services (you can usually get for free) to block suspected spam calls and work very well. Last time I checked my incoming spam calls I was shocked to see I receive multiple per day but they rarely slip through. Google voice is really good at blacklisting fake numbers. Love the show. Keep up the great work 👍
If it really was DTE and you pressed 1 to speak to a human, you would be on hold for well over the 30-minute window they are giving you. I don't think I have ever been on hold with any utility for under 45 minutes or an hour before I could speak with a person.
With a recorded playing repeatedly about how, "Your call is important to us", I'd bet. If your call was actually important to them, it wouldn't take them 45 minutes to answer it.
I had this friend who was a drunk, he's long since gone, but I saw him complete a sneezing fit and at the end I laughed my butt off. What's so funny he said, I said, you look like you have a jelly fish on your face and chest, he had some kind of medical problem exacerbated by heavy drinking, I gave him a towel and told him to throw it straight in the washer or he'd be cleaning my puke off of himself, damn that was gross...But hilarious, LOL
While I was in m car taking my daughter home a few years ago, she got a scam phone call. The laid on the phone said she owed 5 years back taxes (oldie but goody). I asked to speak to the lady on the phone (not good English, but in Texas). I asked how this could be possible? Five years ago she was 12 years old. I mentioned child labor laws would not allow her to work at that age. She hung up on me. So I called her back from 3 different cell phones until she answered. Funny how she got really pissed at me for calling her personal call phone. I guess turn about is fair play. Never heard from her again.
I don't call then back because in the past there was a scam that wanted you to call a number that had a super high fee that was charged to your phone bill and they tried to keep you on the line as long as possible to increase the charges. Don't know if the phone company fixed this or not.
Of course the problem is a certain percentage of the people they contact will in fact be customers of that company. And especially during this time, a portion of those customers will be behind on their bill. When you think your power is about to be cut off, it can cause some to go into panic mode and they won't think critically. Desperate people will be sucked in by this. People who can least afford to be taken advantage of. 😔
My business has one company providing electricity, but had a different provider in this state scamming us. It had their phone number and their canned computer voice. So internal hacking but denial from them. They got it fixed, but only for about 6 months.
