[jebartle]

Originally Posted by KathieI

Yesterday I received a recorded phone message that came from TECO (The gas company supplier for the villages area around Lake Sumter, I guess). The message stated that I was extremely late in paying my bill and that many charges were accumulating to the point where I might need financial aid to pay my bill. It was very alarming and after a minute or two, I was concerned because my bill is an auto deduction from my checking account and I worried that something was wrong with my C/A. I called the number they gave me and spoke to a real person at TECO, who after verifying who i was, checked my account and told me that no, everything was okay and there was no issue with my payments. When I expressed my concern about this call, the operator told me that they are getting many complaints like this and someone has started this scam. I guess they were hoping I had actually answered the phone and was an older person (which I am) who is not too savy to this type of stuff and given them my credit card # to stop the charges from multiplying. It was interesting that they gave me the actual gas company number to call back.

Please folks, if you get any calls like this from any utility company or account, please double check before you give out your credit card number. I loathe these type of people who pray on the elderly and perhaps folks with memory issues and hope that I have helped even one person here from avoiding this scam.

Thanks, Kathie

Most scams will not go to voice mail, I never answer phone unless I recognize caller.