Tampa Electric Company Imposter Reports & Reviews

Tampa Electric Company Imposter Reports & Reviews (2)

I received a computer call telling me my electric was going to be shut off in 35 to 40 minutes due to delinquency. It said to push 1 to get to billing. I pushed 1 and the gentleman asked me if I was calling about my service being shut off. I said yes and he said he was getting me with billing. The lady was very convincing; seemed like she knew so much. I did not have time to check my account as I did not have my computer near me and I had to work in the next 10 minutes. I was panicked. She told me to keep them from shutting me off, I had to make the payment through Zelle, which I know nothing about; don't understand how it works. She told me the amount past due was $299.10. The amount seemed plausible. She walked me through the steps and when it came time to send, I noticed it said Raymond on the number she gave me. I questioned why it said Raymond and she said he is our Operations Manager. I made the transfer and she asked me if I put TECO in the message. I told her I didn't see anything about a message so no. She told me it wouldn't be accepted by TECO unless I have TECO Bill Payment in the message and had me go through the same process. I told her I didn't want to press send because it would double charge me. She assured me it wouldn't; she said that it will bounce back if there are two charges; that they won't both go through. I noticed the 2nd amount was $299 but did it anyway, again, I was now late for work and panicked as I need my electric to not be shut off. She then said I made a mistake and three charges went through. By this time, I was able to log into my account to discover my account was not past due. I told her, rather quickly the last three payments I had made and the dates. She told me that the payment is not reflected on their end because of a new system and the only way for the payment to go through and avoid shut off was to make new payments and dispute the payments through my bank; that she was going to help me with that. I said which payments and she literally repeated back to me the dates and amounts I rambled off to her. I truly believed she was looking at my account. She then said I must have done something wrong as she was now showing 3 payments and wanted to refund me the payment. She told me to go through the same process but this time, in the amount of $897.20. I said no, I'm not doing that. She said, I am trying to get you the refund. She argued with me and I got upset and asked to speak with her supervisor. A gentlemen got on the phone and emphasized everything she said. I then started yelling at him that they just scammed me. He calmly assured me that this is not a scam and they are trying to help process the refund. I then asked to speak to Raymond. He said he is a top manager and isn't available to just come on the phone. I said I don't care if he is the top manager, I am just as important as anybody else and I want to speak to him. He put me on hold and a gentleman came on the phone who said Raymond is not available but wanted to see what he could do to help me. He then emphasized the same thing about a refund and this was not a scam. I asked him for his name. He told me his name was John Mathews. I asked him, if I google his name with TECO, would his name come up. He assured me it would. I googled his name and what came up was a similar scam by the name of John Mathews. I called him out and asked to speak to his supervisor. Another gentleman got on the phone and said, thank you for your donation. I said, Donation! Donation for what? He said, thank you for your donation and then hung up on me.

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Scammer's phone 866-495-4886 x25
Type of a scam Utility

A John Mathews from Tampa Electric called our office in mid afternoon stating a tech was on his way to our office to shut off our power since we failed to pay the last two months payments. I told him thats interesting since the checks had already cleared from our account but he quickly added sometimes a glitch happens in the system but that was not his department. He said if I paid $500 to the account he could inform the tech to not shut off our power but I had 40 minutes to do it before he arrived. All I had to do was go to a Walgreens or Costco and get a Moneypak prepaid card, add $500 to the card and scratch off the back to reveal the authorization code. Then call him with the code and he will relay to tech to not turn off power. After coming to my senses from the panic of losing power, I contacted TECO directly and found our account was current and we were being scammed. I was transferred to a department who handles these types of problems and I gave them the name and number of the scammer. This guy had all the answers, so beware if you get a call.

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Tampa Electric Company Imposter Reports & Reviews (2)

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