Scam?

Submitted by jcceballost t3_10kfj9m in boston

A young woman with a lanyard knocked my door mentioning that she needed to see my last electricity bill to check "something". I recently switched to Boston City supplier so I thought it could be related and I trusted it. I am new in Boston and English is not my first language so I didn't understand everything she said. It was a bit sketchy all the time.

Anyway, I know I should have not, but I showed her my last eBill, without showing my name or my account ID. Only the meter ID was shown in the part I showed (I realized later). She took a look at the bill for only 3 seconds, gave me a hand-out from a company called Atlantic Energy, and then left. I didn't sign or fill out anything, no phone calls, and didn't take photos of my bill.

After, I read here that this is a common thing around the area. Should I be concerned? Can they switch my supplier just like that, or unlikely?

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Comments

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Mental_Increase_8516 t1_j5qdv01 wrote

Work for an electric company, they definitely could switch your supplier. Try giving your company a call and ask them to block any third party suppliers from enrolling onto your account, they should be able to

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jcceballost OP t1_j5qe5nd wrote

I called Eversource and they can't do that because I recently switched automatically to Boston CEE. That's crazy. What do you think I should do? And how come they can switch my supplier with no info? The girl just memorized my meter ID in 3 seconds? That is all she saw.

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Quirky_Butterfly_946 t1_j5qiel3 wrote

There was a time in the early 90's called phone slamming, where someone would call a home or business, ask any question that would give a positive answer (yes, good, OK) and use that to switch people's telephone service without them knowing.

It's an old scam, but similar to yours.

PSA always treat unsolicited, strangers, as scammers first.

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jcceballost OP t1_j5qjfoc wrote

That's infuriating. The only two options in this case is either she recorded our talk with a recorder, or memorize the meter ID because she saw it for just 3 seconds before she left. I will keep an eye on my bill and I hope it does not change.

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AnyRound5042 t1_j5rbvcm wrote

Don't open the door for anybody without a warrant

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wombat5003 t1_j5qkksk wrote

Cancel the service… and switch back to your original supplier… but check your next bill first… if she didn’t have your account# or your name she cannot switch your service.. since you were being wary and not understanding her, she got out of the attempted sale…what she was trying to do is to get you to talk to her, then she would give you a spheal about how their company will save you money..

but either way you can always cancel that service and put your original back if for some wierd reason it did get switched

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jcceballost OP t1_j5qktfy wrote

Which service? My current service, or the new one in the hypothetical case that these people do slamming and change it without my consent?

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hoopbag33 t1_j5sbpyd wrote

Anyone knocking on your door that you aren't already expecting to knock on your door is more than likely a scam.

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husky5050 t1_j5qn9ut wrote

Phone number for CCE 617-635-3850

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Chief132312421 t1_j5qxklh wrote

I had this literal same lady show up to my apartment a couple months ago. Definitely a scam.

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G-bone714 t1_j5tv040 wrote

My general rule of thumb is if I want something from a company, I contact the company. If a company contacts me, they want something from me. I would not engage with a company that contacts me without my asking them to.

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