COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Colorado Springs Utilities is warning customers not to fall for scam calls that are making the rounds, pretending to be the utility company.
Springs Utilities says in recent weeks they’ve received an uptick in reports of scammers trying to trick customers into making payments over the phone.
“What we do see around the holiday season, is an uptick,” said Ted Skroback, Public Affairs Specialist for Colorado Springs Utilities. “We were looking at some numbers from last year as well as this year, and they’re about on par. Scam calls kind of dip down before December and then it spikes up in December. We’re not the only industry that sees these scams like this, but the main one we’re really concerned about is caller ID spoofing.”
Customers have told CSU the scam calls say they’re coming from the Colorado Springs Utilities phone number, which is a common tactic for scammers called ‘spoofing’. The Federal Communications Commission defines spoofing as “when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity.” Scammers will spoof a number from a company or a government agency that you may already know and trust in order to trick you into giving them personal information or money.
The main scam Springs Utilities is dealing with right now is a phone call, that once you pick up, starts a recording. The recording then tells you to press a number, and demands you…