March 15, 2019 • EPE Related News
21 years and counting, utilities unite to fight scams, protect consumers: Elaina L. Ball
21 years and counting, utilities unite to fight scams, protect consumers: Elaina L. Ball
March 4 through March 10 marks National Consumer Protection Week, an initiative launched by the Federal Trade Commission 21 years ago to bring together community organizations around the country to protect consumers. Although a “birthday” is a cause for celebration — a 21st birthday, at that — the reasons that have led to the creation of such an effort is enough to dampen the mood.
As an engineer and team member of El Paso Electric, and self-proclaimed science fanatic, I can truly appreciate how far our technology and society have come over the last 21 years. Our lives have become so convenient with things like cellphones, social media, emails and the internet. However, with all this convenience means more ways for scammers to try and get to our assets and money.
There was a time when you would receive those occasional nameless phone calls at home, with an automated message, where simply hanging up was enough. As scams evolved, so did our ability to avoid them — caller I.D., "do-not-call" lists and call-blocking. Each year we find that scams become more sophisticated, aggressive and even daring in the ways they take advantage of consumers. At El Paso Electric, we have taken our own measures to deal with fraudulent activities by sharing tips with our customers, reporting scams to authorities and trying to keep everybody alert. In the last few years, scams would only be a seasonal nuisance, experiencing a peak in reports during the holiday season and our high-usage times like summer. The times of seasonal scam ploys are over. They are now year-round.
There is one thing we can say about scams: They are certainly relentless. Therefore, EPE has taken a concerted effort to ramp up efforts to better equip consumers with tools and tips to protect themselves from becoming a scammer’s victim. One of these steps is to partner with our fellow local utilities in this effort — Texas Gas Services and El Paso Water. Recently, we have seen two things happen: Each utility is seeing an increase in scam reports, and scammers are ‘spoofing’ our customer service phone number to enhance their ploy. These calls can seem believable and sound like your utility when they are not. Of course, there are many other tactics scammers use, and we must ask customers to stay vigilant and take extra precautions if they come across these kinds of activities. If you are ever in doubt, just hang up and call your utility directly.
We realize that scam attempts are inevitable and will continue to evolve. However, we know how important it is to unite with our fellow utilities to keep customers informed and to continue year-round messaging on scam awareness. But our consumers must always stay vigilant, stay suspicious of calls and customer representatives, and we ask that they always report anything that comes off as a scam.
As we close out National Consumer Protection Week 2019, we keep our eyes open to the reality of scams and know the ways to avoid them. We care about you as our customers and want you to stay safe and aware.
For information on how to avoid scams, visit: epelectric.com.
Elaina L. Ball is senior vice president and chief administrative officer for El Paso Electric.
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