Massachusetts, Rhode Island residents falling for National Grid scam

Scams persist concerning National Grid and billing. Here is a statement from National Grid.

NOTICE FROM NATIONAL GRID INVOLVING CURRENT SCAMS

Over the past few years, National Grid’s Customer Contact Center continues to receive calls from residential and business customers who were contacted by phone or in person by individuals who claim to be from National Grid and who advise the customers they have a past due balance on their utility bill. Similar scams have been reported by utility customers across the U.S.

If you believe you have fallen victim to a scam, contact National Grid and report the scam to your local law enforcement officials and the Attorney General’s office immediately.

To help protect yourself against scams, we encourage you to verify you are speaking with a National Grid representative. One way to do this is to ask the representative to confirm the last five digits of your National Grid account number, which they should always have.

National Grid urges customers to be cautious of scammers and offers the following tips:

• National Grid representatives will know your account number; never offer that information to a caller
• Ask the caller to provide the last five digits of your National Grid account number. If the caller doesn’t know your account number and you have any doubt the caller is a National Grid representative, or if they have any questions about account balance and fish for help, take charge and hang up immediately. Call National Grid or local law enforcement officials.
• National Grid may ask for a payment over the phone, but will leave the method of payment to the customer
• National Grid will not contact customers demanding immediate payment by wire transfer, Green Dot Money-Pak or any other pre-paid card service
• Never — under any circumstances — offer personal or financial information to someone who you cannot identify
• Every National Grid employee carries a photo ID card, and any contractor doing work for the company is also required to carry ID. If someone requesting entry into your home or place of business does not show an ID card, don’t let that person in and please call National Grid or your local law enforcement