Today's Scam

I got an automated phone call this morning, purporting to be from FPL.  The recording said my electricity would be cut off in 30 minutes, because I didn't pay my bill.  I was to call 800-450-5735 to resolve this.  It didn't sound hopeful, though.  It sounded like I was going to lose my power.  So, I called the number.  (I later checked, and it was from this same number that I got the initial automated call.)

When I called, the response was also automated, and it sounded like FPL.  "To pay your bill, press 1," etc.  I asked for a representative.  The woman confirmed what the original message said, and it still didn't sound like there was anything I could do about this in what was now less than a half an hour.  She asked for my phone number, which I gave her.  She said "Is this Alfred Jonas?"  Yes, it was.  She then confirmed my address as 1175 NE 125th St in North Miami.  This is very strange, because that's the building where my office is, and I don't have an account with FPL there.  I pay rent to the building, and they have an account with FPL.  So I told her that was not my address.  She then came back with my home address, where I do have an FPL account.  I confirmed.  I assume, by the way, that this kind of information is available online through a "reverse phone book," starting with a phone number.

I then reviewed with her what she ("FPL") said was going on, and why it didn't make any sense.  She/they said I didn't pay my bill, but I never pay a bill with FPL.  They have my banking information, they send me an e-mail telling me my bill for the month, and they take the money themselves.  The woman then said they had changed their servers, or something, and accounts had to be verified.  She said I had received three mailed notices to confirm my banking, and I hadn't responded to any of them.  I told her I never received anything.  She said maybe the post office wasn't delivering all of my mail.  I told her I get mail every day, and there's no reason for them to withhold anything.

Further, she said I hadn't paid in November, December, or January.  I pointed out this didn't make sense, because if I hadn't paid in November, or if FPL had been unable to access my bank account, my December bill would have been for two months.  It wasn't.  Either she offered, or I requested, to speak to her supervisor.  In the meantime, tick, tick, tick on my 30 supposedly remaining minutes of electric power.

The supervisor was some guy.  I started to review the problem, and I happened to mention that this sounded a bit scammy.  (So far, it involved an 800 number, an official-sounding recording, and two people.  So, I wasn't 100% sure.)  As soon as I said "scammy," he said that if I thought this was a scam, I would have to talk to the main office in Juno Beach.  In person.  Well, that wasn't going to happen, so I continued to explain what was presented to me, and why it didn't make sense.  At some point, the call disconnected.

I felt reasonably sure this was a scam, evidenced in part by the fact that I still had electricity.  So I went to my online banking, and I could see that the expected withdrawals from FPL had in fact happened.  So, this was very clearly a scam.  I then called the real FPL (888 number, not 800), told them about it, and they told me it was already under investigation, because they've already gotten lots of calls.

So, just be aware.  Scams get increasingly sophisticated, and it wouldn't have taken long for me just to "confirm" the details of my bank account, and access to it.  There was enough sketchy to prevent me from giving any information, but it was made very easy and straightforward.