BLUEBONNET ELECTRIC WARNS CUSTOMERS OF SCAMS

  

 Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative warns central Texans to be aware of recent attempts by people calling consumers to trick them into making payments for supposedly delinquent accounts. Similar scams have been targeting consumers for more than a year and have recently increased in activity in Bluebonnet’s service area. 

 “Like all utilities across the country, we have seen an increase in attempts to scam our members into making cash or credit card payments and to provide personal information,” said Mark Rose, Bluebonnet’s general manager. “The most important thing we and our members can do to prevent these scams is be aware of them, inform our friends and neighbors about them and report them to Bluebonnet and local law enforcement when they occur.”

Bluebonnet wants its members to be aware of co-op procedures in order to protect themselves from fraud. Bluebonnet makes at least two attempts to contact its members with delinquent payments – by mail and by courtesy call – within two weeks of the payment’s due date to offer payment options using a debit or credit card.

If a Bluebonnet member has not received a reminder in the mail or a courtesy call about their account and someone claiming to be from Bluebonnet calls attempting to collect a payment, do not pay. Bluebonnet members contacted by someone claiming to be a Bluebonnet employee or contractor asking for their account information or for a payment on their account should not give them any information.

Bluebonnet members should try to get as much information about the caller as possible, including the phone number from which he or she is calling by caller ID, and call Bluebonnet at 800-842-7708 between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and local law enforcement as soon as possible. 

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative is one of the largest electric cooperatives in Texas and has been serving its members since 1939. Bluebonnet serves more than 86,500 meters and owns and maintains 11,000 miles of power lines, located across more than 3,800 square miles within 14 Central Texas counties. Bluebonnet’s service area stretches from Travis County to Washington County, and from Milam County down to Gonzales County. For more information about Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, go to bluebonnet.coop and follow the co-op on Facebook and Twitter.