Hawaiian Electric Utility Scam Threatens Disconnection Unless Bitcoin Bill is Paid
It’s a case of an old scam in a new wineskin.
Customers of electric utility companies in the state of Hawaii are being targeted by scammers who are relying on the relative anonymity offered by cryptocurrencies.
The fraudsters are calling the customers of power firms that include Hawaii Electric Light, Maui Electric and Hawaiian Electric claiming that they have overdue bills. Further, the customers who include businesses are being threatened with immediate disconnection if the bills are not paid promptly using bitcoin.
Hundreds of Dollars Already Lost
According to Khon 2, a television station, reports of the scam started emerging earlier this month. Per Utilities United Against Scams, a consortium of over 100 electric, natural gas, and water utilities in the United States and Canada, hundreds of fraudulent calls have so far been reported. In one of the islands in Hawaii, O’ahu, three businesses have already fallen victim to the scam and have ended up paying hundreds of US dollars at bitcoin ATM machines.
“They weren’t even overdue, but the scammers sounded so convincing that these business owners were willing to pay,” corporate communications director of Hawaiian Electric, Shannon Tangonan, said. “They actually went to a bitcoin machine as directed by these scammers and fed cash into the machines…” https://www.ccn.com/hawaiian-electric-utility-scam-threatens-disconnection-unless-bitcoin-bill-is-paid/
I guess that's pretty creative. It's hard to believe that people actually believe that. How could you ever think that your power company would ask you go to pay cash to a Bitcoin ATM machine, especially if you're not even overdue. This blows my mind. "Hundreds of dollars already lost" doesn't sound like it's even worth a new article. This is small-scale stuff. I remember listening to a radio should about ransomware. People were hacking whole universities and encrypting all their files. They'd only give the decryption key after a transfer was made in Bitcoins. Universities were actually paying. They were (and are, I assume) doing it with personal computers too, but the money is nothing in comparison. It’s a case of an old scam in a new wineskin.
Customers of electric utility companies in the state of Hawaii are being targeted by scammers who are relying on the relative anonymity offered by cryptocurrencies.
The fraudsters are calling the customers of power firms that include Hawaii Electric Light, Maui Electric and Hawaiian Electric claiming that they have overdue bills. Further, the customers who include businesses are being threatened with immediate disconnection if the bills are not paid promptly using bitcoin.
Hundreds of Dollars Already Lost
According to Khon 2, a television station, reports of the scam started emerging earlier this month. Per Utilities United Against Scams, a consortium of over 100 electric, natural gas, and water utilities in the United States and Canada, hundreds of fraudulent calls have so far been reported. In one of the islands in Hawaii, O’ahu, three businesses have already fallen victim to the scam and have ended up paying hundreds of US dollars at bitcoin ATM machines.
“They weren’t even overdue, but the scammers sounded so convincing that these business owners were willing to pay,” corporate communications director of Hawaiian Electric, Shannon Tangonan, said. “They actually went to a bitcoin machine as directed by these scammers and fed cash into the machines…” https://www.ccn.com/hawaiian-electric-utility-scam-threatens-disconnection-unless-bitcoin-bill-is-paid/