SAN BERNARD ELECTRIC WARNS CUSTOMERS OF FRAUD ATTEMPTS
San Bernard Electric Cooperative want to warn its members of recent attempts by people trying to fraud customers into making payments for supposedly delinquent accounts, which is continuing to focus on utility customers in neighboring counties and throughout Texas.
Bill Marricle, SBEC’s general manager says, “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 SBEC and local law enforcement when they occur.”
Members have received calls from a person, purportedly from SBEC stating that their bill was past due and that their payment had not been received, then telling the customer they may pay by meeting the caller at a location, told to bring cash or make a payment over the phone with a retail store gift card or their power would be disconnected.
SBEC wants its members to be aware of the co-op procedures in order to protect themselves from fraud. SBEC’s billing procedure is as follows:
. A bill is mailed or emailed with a due date for payment without penalties
. A termination noticed is mailed or emailed when a payment is not received by the due date.
. A courtesy call is made the week before termination if payment is not received.
. At no time will a SBEC employee collect funds at any location other than the SBEC offices during business hours of Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm.
. Utilize our online account system, SMARTHUB, where members can view their account status, or call our office and ask about your account status 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If a SBEC member receives a phone call from someone claiming to be from SBEC, attempting to collect a payment, DO NOT PAY and DO NOT GIVE ANY INFORMATION. SBEC members should try and get as much information about the caller as possible, including phone number from which he or she is calling via Caller Id, and call SBEC at 979-865-3171, and local law enforcement as soon as possible.