{"id":3433,"date":"2016-10-20T18:14:05","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T23:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.texaselectricityratings.com\/blog\/?p=3433"},"modified":"2016-10-20T18:14:05","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T23:14:05","slug":"texas-billing-scam-uncovered-invirginia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texaselectricityratings.com\/blog\/texas-billing-scam-uncovered-invirginia\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Billing Scam Uncovered in\u2026Virginia?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IDCindy Reed lives in Fairfax, Virginia, near the Washington Beltway. She might be a thousand miles from Texas but since February, she\u2019s been receiving emailed bills from Reliant Energy for Texas electricity<\/a>\u00a0customers.<\/p>\n

According to coverage by both KPRC 2 Houston<\/a> and NBC4 Washington<\/a> Ms. Reed has received hundreds of notices which included the account numbers, bank account verifications, and addresses of account holders.<\/p>\n

Concerned about the volume of personal information she was receiving, Reed contacted Reliant Energy. However\u00a0\u2014customer service being what it is\u2014\u00a0it took several calls to Reliant to eventually elevate her \u201ccomplaint\u201d to a supervisor. According to the NBC4 story, Reed said, \u201cHe claimed to run some kind of program while I was on the phone with him and he said that it would never happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the emails didn\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n

When NBC4 contacted Reliant\u2019s parent company, NRG, they conducted an investigation and discovered that someone had create fictitious accounts online using Reed\u2019s email address as the point of contact.<\/p>\n

Reliant contacted the Houston Police and now, the FBI is involved. The IP address of the scammer is known but it\u2019s hoped law enforcement will be able to use it to identify the individual .<\/p>\n

Reliant told both news stations\u00a0there has been no security breach at the company and that they are trying to contact individuals listed on the accounts to let them know their personal information is being used to open potentially fraudulent accounts.<\/p>\n

One possible scenario suggested by the news stories is that the\u00a0individual goes doors to door offering cheap electricity for cash. This person then sets up electric accounts for those addresses with valid personal and financial information but used fakes names for the residents and Reed\u2019s email address.<\/p>\n

If someone comes to your door offering a deal\u00a0like this contact the police. Also, always remain vigilant for signs of identity theft. The University of Texas at Austin recommends:<\/p>\n