Colorado Springs Utilities warns customers of scam
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) is warning customers of a scam where people are posing as CSU representatives and demanding payment.
CSU says based on reports from the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD), these scammers have defrauded CSU customers out of an estimated $20,000 in just a few days.
According to Colorado Springs Utilities officials, impostors call customers and threaten that their services will be shut off if they do not make an immediate payment.
"They contact customers, say they’re late on a certain amount of utility payments and if they don’t pay within the next 30 minutes then their services will be disconnected," explained Alex Trefry with CSU. "If someone is threatening to turn off your utility, they are a scammer. That is not how we operate. We’re a community owned utility, which means that we try to work with our customers and find different avenues to get them up on payments."
Trefry also told KRDO13 in an interview Friday Colorado Springs Utilities will never request unconventional forms of payment like prepaid gift cards, MoneyGrams, or cryptocurrency.
Legitimate payment options can be found here.
If a customer receives a suspicious request from someone claiming to be a representative of CSU, they should hang up and call them at (719) 448-4800 to confirm the legitimacy of any calls or requests.
If you believe you have been a victim of a similar scam, CSU says you should file a police report with CSPD at (719) 444-7000. Once the initial call is recorded, a member of law enforcement will call the customer back to take the report.
