Is this utility shut-off call a scam?
The caller says they’re from your electric company, your account is past due, and a crew is on the way to disconnect your power within the hour. The caller ID even shows the utility’s name. Then comes the part that gives it away: to stop the shut-off, you need to pay right now, by prepaid card, a payment app, or a deposit at a Bitcoin ATM. That call is a utility shut-off scam, and you are far from the only person getting it.
If your heart is still pounding, that’s by design. The script is built to make the next 30 minutes feel like an emergency so you pay before you think. Real utilities don’t work that way, and knowing the differences is most of the defense.
Why the call is a scam
Utility companies do disconnect customers for non-payment, but not like this. A real disconnection comes after written notices, usually more than one, mailed or shown on your bill well in advance. And no legitimate utility, anywhere, asks to be paid by gift card, prepaid debit card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency. Those methods share one feature: once the money moves, it’s hard to pull back, which is exactly why scammers insist on them.
The spoofed caller ID doesn’t mean anything either. Caller ID can be faked to show any name or number, including your utility’s real customer service line. Some crews follow up with a second caller playing a “supervisor,” or send someone in a work vest to collect in person. The costume changes, the demand doesn’t: pay immediately, through a channel that can’t be reversed.
What to do while you’re on the call
Hang up. You don’t need to argue, explain, or announce that you’ve figured it out. Just end the call. Then find the customer service number printed on your actual utility bill or on the back of the company’s official website, and call that number yourself. Ask whether your account is past due. In most cases you’ll hear that everything is fine, and in the rare case you do owe something, you’ll now be paying the real company through a normal channel.
Don’t call back the number that called you, and don’t use a number the caller gave you. Both routes lead to the same script. If the caller mentioned a “new payment office” or a kiosk location, that kiosk is a crypto ATM, and the moment cash goes in, it converts to crypto in the scammer’s wallet. We’ve written about what happens next in our guide to Bitcoin ATM scams.
If you already paid
Act quickly and don’t let embarrassment slow you down. These crews run the same script on thousands of households, and the people who fall for it are simply the ones who happened to answer on a stressful day.
Where to start depends on how you paid. If you gave a card number, call your bank or card issuer now, report the charge as fraud, and ask them to block the card. If you paid by prepaid or gift card, contact the card’s issuer with the card numbers and receipts; recovery is uncommon, but a fast report is the only version of it that works. If you sent money through a payment app or fed cash into a crypto kiosk, notify the app or the ATM operator and save every receipt, since the transaction details are what an investigator can actually follow. Whatever you do, don’t pay anything more, including any follow-up caller offering to reverse the payment for a fee. That call is the second scam.
Report it, even if the money is gone
Report the call to your real utility company, which tracks impersonation campaigns in its service area and can warn other customers. Then file with ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and with IC3.gov if you lost money. Include the phone number that called, the payment method demanded, and any receipts or wallet addresses. Screenshots of texts and call logs help too; our guide on preserving evidence in the first 24 hours covers how to capture them cleanly.
One more habit worth keeping: if any call about money arrives with a countdown attached, the countdown is the tell. Real billing problems survive a hang-up and a call back on a number you found yourself. Scams don’t. The same pressure pattern shows up in the fake bank fraud alert playbook, and hanging up beats it every time.
— Gus