Manitoba Hydro warns of scams

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This article was published 29/12/2018 (1941 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Hydro is warning customers to be wary of high-pressure scammers threatening to shut off their electric service unless immediate payment is made by a prepaid card.

The utility saw nearly a 300 percent jump in the number of fraud-related complaints this year from the year before — 862 phone, text and e-mail scams as of Oct. 31 from 221 in 2017.

An increase in scammers threatening disconnection of service to small business owners was responsible for the large increase but many other fraud-related complaints to Manitoba Hydro this past year concerned unsolicited text messages to customers that say they were overbilled and eligible for a refund.

Hydro says a common scam is to call a customer’s home or business and say the customer owes money and must pay immediately by prepaid card or face a shutoff of electric service. Hydro employees will never demand immediate payment with a credit card or money order by phone. They also will never threaten to disconnect power or suspend service if payment is not made immediately.

Customers who are unsure whether the phone call, text or email is real or a scam, are encouraged to contact Hydro at 1-888-624-9376.