‘KCP&L’ telephone scam resurfaces
In the News
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A telephone scam directed at KCP&L customers, and which targeted at least one Maryville business last July, has resurfaced, the Kansas City-based power provider reported this week.
According to a KCP&L release, the utility is seeing a recurrence of telephone scam attempts involving bogus utility bill collection calls and requests for personal financial information.
Most of those targeted are restaurants and small businesses, but KCP&L is advising all customers to exercise caution should they receive phone calls from people claiming to represent the utility.
What happens is this: a phone scammer places a call posing as a KCP&L employee and tells the business owner or employee who picks up the phone that their bill is past due. The caller then threatens to cut off the customer’s electricity if payment is not forthcoming.
If the customer fails to make immediate payment using a credit card or other cash transfer method, or simply doesn’t respond, the scammer gives out a return number.
Customers who call back are prompted by a recording mentions KCP&L or some similar sounding name. The customer is then asked to press 2 in order to speak with a live person who can accept “payment.”
The Pizza Ranch restaurant in Maryville received such a call last summer. However, the manager who answered the phone hung up and reported the incident to the eatery’s owners, who notified law enforcement
KCP&L is again reminding customers who have questions about the legitimacy of a bill, phone call or email regarding their utility service to refrain from providing any personal or banking information.
The best response, the utility says, is to hang up and call the KCP&L Customer Care Center at 1-888-471-5275 or 816-471-5275.
Other ways customers can keep from being victims of telephone and Internet fraud are listed below:
• Never give credit card, debit card, Social Security, ATM, checking account or savings account
numbers to anyone who comes to your home, phones, texts or emails requesting this information with respect to a utility bill.
• When contacted by a supposed KCP&L employee, ask to see company identification or call the Customer Care Center.
• Be suspicious of any email referencing your utility bill if you have not requested an online communication from KCP&L.
• Customers using KCP&L’s online bill-pay system should make payments only through kcpl.com.
• Never provide personal information via email or click suspicious links.
Anyone who believes they have been a victim of the scam described here should notify local law enforcement immediately. For more information, go to www.kcpl.com/scamalert.
