Scammers threatening disconnection of a customer's electric service have further adapted to Texas' deregulated market, where the customer's electric company can be one of dozens of different firms.

Typically, as the scam is perpetrated in the rest of the country, the scammer calls the customer pretending to be from the local distribution utility, which is the sole entity with disconnection authority.

When the scam first started appearing in Texas some time ago, scammers would use the name of the local TDU; however, customers rarely interface with their TDU, and obviously do not pay their monthly bill to the TDU nor receive disconnect-for-nonpay notices from their TDU.

After some time, scammers then adapted to the Texas market by beginning to use the name of one of several REPs in making their fraudulent calls.

Now, according to a report in the Waco Tribune, scammers have added a new twist by allowing the customer to essentially confirm the identity of their REP

According to the Waco Tribune, the scammer will identify themselves as from the "electric company," prompting many customers to ask/confirm "Oh, TXU?," or whichever REP the customers uses.

See the Waco Tribune for more

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