NEWS RELEASE
GUELPH POLICE SERVICE
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The Guelph Police Service have been receiving several calls related to a Guelph Hydro Scam
How it works
The most common scams involve a telephone call from someone claiming to be from Guelph Hydro (or the electrical utility in the targeted area) who says that the customer's account is overdue and, if payment is not made immediately, electricity will be disconnected in the next half-hour.
The caller then demands payment in one of the following ways:
- Prepaid credit card
- Wire transfer
- Gift cards
What you can do
Be advised that Guelph Hydro does contact customers for payment of overdue accounts. To prevent yourself from being a victim of the scam, it is important for you to understand the process Guelph Hydro has for this type of situation. The following is the process Guelph Hydro uses, taken from their web page:
- Guelph Hydro credit department only makes calls Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Guelph Hydro does not have a "Disconnections Department"
- Guelph Hydro does not call from a 1-800 number
- Guelph Hydro would never demand immediate payment using a pre-paid credit card, gift card or PayPal.
- Guelph Hydro does not accept wire transfer payments
Guelph Hydro makes every effort to contact customers before disconnecting service, including mailing a written notice, hand delivering a disconnection notice, making phone calls and, if service is about to be disconnected, knocking on the door to contact the customer in person.
The preceding information has been taken from the Guelph Hydro web page. Follow this link for more information from Guelph Hydro.
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