YouMail Robocall Scam Threat Advisory - October 2022

UTILITY IMPOSTER ROBOCALLS STRIKE STRUGGLING FAMILIES

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- YouMail issued a new robocall threat advisory today warning that Americans are under threat from utility-related imposter robocalls. These utility scam calls pretend to be from major American gas, electric, and other utilities to defraud unsuspecting consumers with threats of rapid disconnection if one's "utility bills" are not paid immediately. Unfortunately, these scammers are rushing to take advantage of the rising number of families who are falling behind in their utility payments. According to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, the share of Americans vulnerable for this reason is roughly 1 in 6 families, or nearly 20 million homes.

The details of the scam calls vary, though they generally tell the target that their service is about to be disconnected and they need to press a key to make a payment or talk to someone at the company. Some calls come from a completely random phone number and mention a generic company name, like "your Electric Company." For example:

Dear Customer. This is a disconnection notice from your Electric Company. Please be aware that your service will be disconnected within the next 30 minutes due to non-payment. Immediate action is required to avoid disconnection today. For automatic payments and payment arrangements, press one. To speak to an account specialist, press two. For other inquiries and billing related questions, press three.

Others use a local phone number to the area code (and sometimes prefix) of the person they're calling and mention specific departments to connect to, such as this:

This is the Notification Department of your Electric Company service provider. You have an automatic interruption of service in the next 30 to 45 minutes due to delinquent account status. If you find this to be an error or would like to stop the interruption, please press one to speak with the billing department. Otherwise please press two to speak with the disconnection department. Thank you for choosing our services.

Still others call from a toll-free number (sometimes spoofing a known utility number), and mention a specific utility company name, often one likely to be the one known to the target, such as this:

Dear customer. This is an automated message from PG&E, Pacific Gas and Electric. This call is to inform you that your electricity service will get disconnected in the next 45 minutes due to a payments issue with last payments. To avoid any disconnection or speak with a live agent, please press one. For billing and disconnection, press two. For finance department, press three. Thank you for choosing us, goodbye.

These calls are being made to all regions of the country, comprising almost all major utilities in the U.S. at some point, and are estimated to total as many as tens of millions of calls each month. More scam calls are expected to follow as more and more families fall behind on their bills. These calls are especially tricky for consumers to recognize as scams, especially those who may be receiving legitimate payment reminders and other robocalls from their utilities, as these robocalls have also gone up significantly in volume as families fall behind on utility payments.

The damage from these calls is considerable, with various utilities suggesting an average of $650 in losses per successful scam.

"At this point, utility imposters making random phone calls have a very good chance of reaching someone who is behind on their payments, and who will be susceptible to these scams," said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. "The only prudent thing for a consumer to do is simply let these calls roll to voicemail, and then call their utility directly at the phone number on their bill or on the utility web site. In addition, it's wise for consumers to run robocall blocking apps like YouMail to filter out most of these calls automatically, saving them time and trouble."

At YouMail, we want consumers to understand the extent of fraudulent calling that's currently out there, so they can protect themselves. Users of the YouMail robocall blocking app are protected because the app correctly identifies and blocks such calls automatically. However, these types of fraud calls can be very hard for other consumers to identify, especially when a business they have a relationship with is involved, such as the utility providing their gas, electricity, or water.

These call volume estimates come from extrapolating from the call behavior seen by the users of the YouMail call protection app, the same mechanism used for the monthly YouMail Robocall Index.

About YouMail, Inc.

YouMail protects consumers, enterprises, and carriers from harmful phone calls. YouMail provides US and UK consumers app-based call protection services through the YouMail, Another Number, and HulloMail apps. These solutions answer over a billion live calls per year across well over 10 million registered users, powering America's most robust telephone sensor network in identifying and providing zero-hour protection against illegal calling campaigns and cyberattacks.  YouMail Protective Services leverages this sensor network to protect consumer-facing enterprises by detecting and helping shut down imposter traffic that can lead to financial or brand damage, as well as to protect carriers with robocall mitigation services that detect and help stop bad traffic originating, traversing, or terminating on their networks. This sensor network is also used to provide the YouMail Robocall Index™ is the nation's definitive source on telephone network activity and attacks. YouMail, Inc. is privately funded and based in Irvine, California. 

Contact:
Rohan Notaney for YouMail
Lumina Communications
[email protected]

SOURCE YouMail Inc.