Be Aware: New Scam Targets Eversource Customers in Danbury

If you are a business owner in the Greater Danbury area, be aware, there's a new scam out there that is reportedly targeting you with deceptive tactics that are made to make you believe that you owe back payment on your utility bills.

I just got off the phone with a very good friend who owns several businesses in Ridgefield and Danbury, and he told me that he almost lost over a thousand dollars to a scammer this morning. The scammer called his business, identified himself as a representative of Eversource, and said that the power was going to be shut off at my buddy's business at 4PM this afternoon unless he brought his account up to date.

My friend was skeptical, but the scammer was organized, they texted over a bar code that my buddy was instructed to take over to a Walmart, scan, and pay off the fraudulent Eversource bill. Where the scammer screwed up was giving different amounts on different phone calls. The first scammer told him that they owed $700, and the second time they called the amount shot up to $1,068. I can't publish the full phone number from the scammer here, but the area code that they were using was (716), which is from the Buffalo area.

My friend did exactly what you should do, hang up, and call the Eversource customer service center directly. When he did, Eversource representatives told him that they had received numerous calls similar to his throughout the past couple of weeks. Eversource also reiterated that they would never shut off someone's power without arranging a payment plan, nor would they ever call customers directly demanding payment.

Just a head's up,, be careful.