Scammers target Santee Electric Coop members

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Santee Electric Cooperative members have again been the target of a scam. Twice in the last week, SEC has been notified of attempts to force members to pay money they don’t owe. One man from the Wyboo area was contacted from a 1-800 number. He was told he had to pay a bill immediately over the phone. The man questioned the caller, stating he had been a member of SEC for years and had never even had a late fee. The caller hung up. Another customer in the Georgetown area received a call, again from a 1-800 number. This customer was told to call yet another 1-800 number and pay. Rather than make that call, the customer brought the information in to the Georgetown SEC office. There, the fraud department took over. An SEC representative made the call to the bogus 1-800 number. The number was answered as Berkeley Electric. The scammer began pressuring the SEC rep to provide an account number. As the SEC rep questioned the scammer, the scammer became agitated and eventually hung up. SEC Manager of Community Relations Mary Grace McGee wants to get the word out about the scams and what SEC will and won’t do. “We’re not going to call and say you have to pay,” said McGee. SEC will first send a bill through the mail. If the bill becomes overdue, SEC will send a late notice through the mail. If you are on SmartHub, the SEC app, you could receive a late notification through the app. If a member has a medical alert on the account, they might receive a door hanger stating the cut-off date if payment is not made, but even then, they won’t call. New Marketing Manager Kevin Myers runs daily usage reports. If he notices spikes in a member’s usage during certain times of day or a sudden upsurge in usage overall, he might call the member to suggest they check their AC unit. “If mailed notices have been returned as undeliverable, we might try to call to inform you of the issue,” said McGee. “But we will never call you and say you have to pay now.” McGee states this is not the first time SEC members have been the targets of a scam. A few months ago, a Lake City member was told to purchase a prepaid card and call a 1-800 number to pay. Concerned she would lose her power, she did as asked, and it cost her an unrecoverable $250. McGee also spoke of a group of men claiming to work for SEC who drove through neighborhoods in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence asking to enter homes to change light bulbs. “We try to get the word out on social media, but we’re concerned not everyone is hearing about it,” said McGee. “We’re asking people who read this to tell everybody.” If anyone has any questions or thinks they have been contacted by the scammers, call McGee on her direct line at (843) 355-0599.