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The free tool below runs entirely in this browser — no account, nothing stored or transmitted. Redact anything you would not want kept before you type it.
Open the companion tool →Why the account record outranks the caller
Utilities publish disconnection rules, and most of them involve written notice and a payment arrangement process before service is cut. A caller demanding immediate payment by a specific unusual route is describing a procedure that does not match the account.
The one detail scammers reliably get wrong is the payment route. A real utility bills you through its own account system, and it can be reached through the number printed on your statement — never through a number supplied by the caller.
The protocol
- Hang up or close the message. Nothing about a genuine past-due account gets worse in the two minutes it takes to check.
- Log in to your utility account through the site or app you normally use, or call the number printed on a recent bill or statement.
- Ask whether a disconnection is scheduled and what the arrangement options are. Get the account balance from the account, not from the caller.
- If you were asked to pay with a prepaid card, gift card, or crypto, treat that as the finding. No utility collects that way.
What the tool does
Paste the notice or describe the call and get a reading of which claims a real provider can make, plus the callback sequence to the number printed on your own statement. It runs in this browser; nothing is sent or stored.
Limit first: This is a claim-checking aid, not a fraud investigation service and not a billing service. It can flag a legitimate notice and it can miss a caller who knows the real procedures. A clean reading never proves a caller is genuine.
Open the companion tool →One human next step
If you paid through an unusual route, call your provider's published number and your bank the same day, then report the call at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Your state utility commission also takes complaints about billing and disconnection practices.
Research log and safety checks
AI-assist path: not used for a verdict. The check is a fixed callback sequence against a published number; an AI reading adds nothing a phone call does not settle better. §6.10: not a frontier-pace topic.
§0.5 protection result: category is scam-fraud-defense; crisis-adjacent: no; fear/urgency/scarcity toolkit used: no. The protective function is free and the paid feature is convenience only.