the staff of the Ridgewood blog
PEARL RIVER NY, for Norther Bergen readers once again Orange and Rockland Power customers are being hounded by a new round of persistent predatory phone calls today from phony bill collectors trying to steal their money.
The scheme goes this way: individuals posing as O&R employees call unsuspecting customers and threaten them with the immediate shut off of their electric service if they don’t pay phony O&R bills with Green Dot or other prepaid debit cards.
Here are two big reasons not to believe any crook who makes a shutoff threat:
NO DEBIT CARDS – O&R does not accept bill payment for electric and gas utility bills by Green Dot or any other prepaid debit cards. Never has.
NO IMMEDIATE SHUTOFF – Disconnecting O&R electric or gas service for non-payment of bills involves a multi-step process – including written communications from O&R to the customer over a period of several days, or even weeks — not hours. That process is regulated by the NYS Public Service Commission and NJ Board of Public Utilities.
So, if someone calls you, says they are an O&R employee and threatens to shut off your electric or gas service that day if not immediately paid through a prepaid debit card, here’s what you should do:
Hang Up – Disengage so you’re not further subjected to the fraudulent high-pressure “sales pitch.”
Text Trouble – After you hang up on them, the more aggressive predatory callers will try to repeat their shutoff threat by texting you. Ignore the threat.
Don’t Hit “REDIAL” – The caller ID screen on your phone for the phony bill collector’s call may read “Orange and Rockland Utilities”, but that’s a hi-tech bogus copy of the utility company’s number. That’s not O&R. Do not redial, and don’t call the number that the caller gives you to call them back. That will reconnect you to the crook.
Fast Track – If you are unsure about whether you have an overdue balance on your O&R bill, the fastest way to find out is to log onto your account through ORU.com. to review your latest account information. You also can call O&R’s automated phone system at 1-877-434-4100. Have your Orange and Rockland account number ready and follow the automated phone prompts to check your balance.
Yes, they conned my 87 year old father recently…
They called me and left an aggressive shut off message. I live in Washington State. Go figure! They work in New York and New Jersey.