Scammers are at it again!

Please beware that many mem­bers are receiv­ing calls from scam­mers stat­ing their accounts are up for dis­con­nec­tion with­out imme­di­ate pay­ment. Please hang up imme­di­ate­ly! Coastal Elec­tric will nev­er ask for a pay­ment over the phone.

• Your elec­tric coop­er­a­tive will not call or email you ask­ing you to share your account num­ber or pass­word. Do not share this infor­ma­tion with any­one.
• Do not assume you can trust caller ID to let you know where the caller is locat­ed. Scam­mers are using new tech­nol­o­gy that dis­guis­es their actu­al loca­tion.
• Your elec­tric coop­er­a­tive will not con­tact you by phone to dis­cuss the ter­mi­na­tion of ser­vice. If you receive a phone call say­ing your elec­tric­i­ty is being dis­con­nect­ed, hang up and call law enforce­ment imme­di­ate­ly.

At the urg­ing of South Car­oli­na’s elec­tric coop­er­a­tives, state Attor­ney Gen­er­al Alan Wil­son has asked the South Car­oli­na Law Enforce­ment Divi­sion (SLED) to inves­ti­gate a sophis­ti­cat­ed phone scam that is defraud­ing util­i­ty con­sumers across the state.

The scheme begins with a phone call from some­one pre­tend­ing to be an elec­tric coop­er­a­tive employ­ee. The caller warns the con­sumer that util­i­ty ser­vice to their home or busi­ness will be dis­con­nect­ed unless they receive imme­di­ate pay­ment. Scam­mers then direct con­sumers to pur­chase a pre-paid deb­it card (avail­able at many con­ve­nience stores and phar­ma­cies) and to call a toll-free num­ber to deliv­er the ser­i­al code list­ed on the card. Once armed with this infor­ma­tion, scam­mers have effec­tive­ly stolen the mon­ey used to obtain the card.

“It’s imper­a­tive that we pre­vent these thieves from tak­ing advan­tage of our con­sumer-mem­bers,” said Mike Couick, pres­i­dent and CEO of The Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tives of South Car­oli­na. “These are com­mit­ted crim­i­nals who are prey­ing upon some of our most vul­ner­a­ble cit­i­zens.”

Ini­tial com­plaints sug­gest­ed scam oper­a­tors were sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly tar­get­ing the state’s His­pan­ic com­mu­ni­ties. In recent weeks, the ille­gal scheme has broad­ened to include small busi­ness own­ers and restau­rants.

“Due to the vol­ume of com­plaints, I have asked SLED to open a for­mal inves­ti­ga­tion,” said South Car­oli­na Attor­ney Gen­er­al Alan Wil­son. “I believe this is a pru­dent step to help pro­tect unsus­pect­ing con­sumers.”

“It’s vital­ly impor­tant coop­er­a­tive mem­bers know that we will nev­er call them and ask them to share per­son­al infor­ma­tion over the phone,” said Tom Upshaw, pres­i­dent and CEO of Pal­met­to Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive in Ridge­land. “In addi­tion, notice is sent to our mem­bers before we dis­con­nect ser­vices. If you receive one of these sus­pi­cious phone calls, you should hang up and con­tact your local law enforce­ment.”