Board 8 > Is there anything else I need to do? (energy scam)

(+) Yeah! (+)

So about a half hour ago, this woman comes up to my apartment. She talks fast, she's from this place called SFE Energy and she wants to see my bill to see if I'm 'eligible' for some kind of price break. At this point I'm taken by surprised, so I let them in and DO show them my bill. Of course, they say I'm eligible and start writing down my information and have me sign this form. At this point, I'm still iffy of whether they are part of PSE&G (the utility) or this other company or what. Anyway, they get me to call a "rep" and they start asking my question to complete the sign up and get the contract. At this point, I can DEFINITELY tell something is up so I stop everything, say I want to keep things the way they are. The reps take this to mean I just need time to think it over, so the call ends and I get a business card and they leave. I look this place up online, and it turns out its a scam.

So here's my concern: while I did ultimately cancel and stop everything, they do still have this signed form with some of my information on it (not like, super PERSONAL stuff but name / address / phone / etc.). Should I be worried that these people will sign me up anyway without me knowing? Or since I verbally told them No, and I have no contract or anything, I should be good and I shouldn't worry about it?

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did you give them your SSN?
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No, they took some kind of ID number that was on the bill though.

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then you have nothing to worry about

worst they can do is pretend to be you and contact your energy provider to try and cancel your service to enroll to their service, your provider will send you a letter telling you someone's requesting a change and to contact them to sort things out

remember that your energy provider will almost always contact you through the mail, same thing with the IRS, so never ever open the door or take a call from people claiming to be either one
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That's how I feel. And since they left thinking I was "on the fence", I imagine they would try to contact me again (where I can definitely say No) before doing anything really shady.

And yeah, trusting this person was super stupid to begin with. It's just, in the moment I was sorta blindsided to everything and it took up until that shady call for me to put a stop to things.

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scammers heavily rely on that "blindsided" effect to try to get you to do something careless before you have time to think about it. luckily, recognizing and stopping the scam halfway through will prevent the worst consequences. unfortunately, there are still some consequences. most likely, the worst thing you'll have to deal with, is that they may sell you personal information to telemarketers. it's annoying but not the end of the world.

I had a similar experience in the past where I was dialing a government phone number and I mixed up two digits. well as it turns out, the scammers had this number and were basically ready for people who made a similar mistake. when they asked for my credit card information I became immediately suspicious and I'm really glad I did. I voiced my concerns about giving my credit card information over the phone, and the woman became increasingly insistent that I needed to give her the info: this is usually a good sign that you're getting scammed. I had already given my name and address by that point. funny thing is, the woman clearly misspelled my name, because I started getting junk mail with my name spelled wrong almost immediately.

number one most important rule to keep in mind to avoid being scammed is to basically never give your credit card information out unless you are 100% sure who you are giving it to. this is the outcome that can and will lead to the WORST consequences. I wouldn't be surprised if they had asked you for yours had the meeting gone on a little longer.

it's usually done with some kind of explanation along these lines:

- they say they aren't going to charge you, or it's only going to be a small charge
- but they need your credit card information just so they can run your credit/verify your identity/some other excuse

if you ever feel uncomfortable about the validity of someone asking for your CC info, you should always voice your concerns. reason why? if they're legitimate they will understand your reluctance and there's almost never a case where they need your credit card RIGHT AWAY. if they're illegitimate they will become weirdly insistent and try to pressure you into giving up your information before you have time to think it over.

anyway I know most of that information wasn't relevant to your specific case but maybe someone else will read it and it might help them avoid being scammed in the future.
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if they are telemarketers they most likely already have your address and phone and probably your name

don't sweat getting your credit card stolen, it's an easy fix with a simple phone call to your bank, a debit card is a bit more annoying since banks take longer to sort out your money
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I didn't read beyond the first line, bet you sure are glad they waited 20 extra minutes so you could finish watching Nintendo Direct. Maybe they too were watching it? Or maybe were spying on you...
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