A warning tonight about a scam hitting the southeast, including some people here in Eastern Carolina. President Barack Obama is not going to pay your utility bill.
Progress Energy is urging its customers be on alert for the new bill payment scam. Scammers claim the president will pay customers’ utility bills through a new federal program.
Progress Energy says its received reports of customers who have been contacted about this scam in its Carolinas and Florida service territories.
According to the Better Business Bureau, customers have been contacted in person and through fliers, social media and text messages with claims that President Obama is providing credits or applying payments to utility bills.
To receive the money, scammers claim they need the customers' Social Security and bank routing numbers. In return, customers are given a false bank routing number that will supposedly pay their utility bills.
The utility says in reality, there is no money, and customers believe they have paid their bills when in fact they have not. The scammers then have the customer's Social Security and bank routing numbers.
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