The Brownsville Public Utilities Board (BPUB), in collaboration with Utilities United Against Scams (UUAS) will recognize the fifth annual Utility Scam Awareness Day today.
Utility Scam Awareness Day is part of the week-long National Scam Awareness Week (Nov.16-Nov.20), a campaign focused on educating customers and exposing tactics used by scammers. This year’s theme is “Together, We Can Stop Scams.”
“Even through these tough times, our customers continue receiving calls from scammers,” said BPUB General Manager & CEO John S. Bruciak. “It’s unfortunate, but our employees are committed to continue educating the community on scam prevention so that they don’t fall prey to these types of schemes in the future.”
According to Utilities United Against Scams, the most common scams occur by phone, in person, by email, threats to disconnect service immediately, a request for immediate payment and a request to purchase prepaid debit card.
BPUB reminds customers to stay cautious whenever speaking to a live operator through an unsolicited phone call. Officials said BPUB will never have live operators call customers, request payments or offer to pay their bill in exchange for a portion of the outstanding balance. Customers are encouraged to hang up the phone and call BPUB to verify their account status.
Unsolicited requests for payments, property access, personal information, and bank routing numbers should be reported to the Brownsville Police Department at (956) 548-7000 or by visiting the nearest community police station.
The utility company is encouraging the community to practice social distancing by making account inquiries or paying bills online or by phone. For more information and tips on how customers can protect themselves from imposter utility scams, visit www.brownsville-pub.com, and follow BPUB on Twitter and Facebook.
