Scams and scammers have been around forever. Click here for an article about scams of 100 years ago.
Recently, the City of Pasadena issued a warning about scammers: Scammers, posing as Pasadena Water and Power employees, have been contacting customers from the number (888) 867-9144, attempting to extort money by threatening to shut off service unless immediate payment is made over the phone. Techniques such as spoofing are used to falsify the telephone number, making it appear as if calls are from Pasadena Water and Power. They also replicate Pasadena Water and Power’s recorded customer service message to deceive callers.
Pasadena Water and Power has clarified that a legitimate employee will never demand payment via third-party apps or with gift cards. Customers concerned about a call from Pasadena Water and Power are advised to hang up and call Pasadena Water and Power directly at (626) 744-4005.
Customers with delinquent accounts will always receive a “Final Notice” from Pasadena Water and Power by U.S. mail before any phone contact from Pasadena Water and Power is made. The City of Pasadena also has a Fraud Hotline (626) 744-7448 for reporting suspected cases of fraud, waste, or abuse involving the City of Pasadena, including its employees, officials, contractors, or vendors.
Residents are also advised to be cautious of phone calls demanding money for arrest warrants, as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will not call to demand payment for warrants. If there is any doubt about the legitimacy of a caller, residents are encouraged to ask for the caller’s name, identification, employer name, and a call-back number, and to verify the legitimacy of the caller by contacting Pasadena Water and Power, Pasadena Police Department, or the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
To protect themselves from identity theft, residents are advised to check the sender’s email address when receiving emails with attachments or links from anyone, and to delete the email right away and not click on any links or open any attachments if the sender’s email address is not from the domain name or person that it claims to be.
The City of Pasadena encourages residents to stay vigilant and report any suspected fraudulent activity to the appropriate authorities.
Some Pasadena Chamber members received an email from Jack Daniels (I kid you not!). Jack claimed to be selling contacts of Pasadena Chamber members. Jack was very cheerful:
Hi,
I am following up to check if you had a chance to review my previous email I sent across.
If this is of your interest, I would be happy to share the more information.
Thank you Look forward for your response.
Best Regards,
Jack
Jack.Daniels@Leadcontactbusiness.com joins josefina.techbusinesslist@gmail.com aarna.topdataproviders@gmail.com and delilah.expodataprovider@gmail.com.and a host of scammers offering to sell a list of Pasadena Chamber member companies with all contact information.
NONE OF THESE EMAILS WERE AUTHORIZED BY OR SENT ON BEHALF OF THE PASADENA CHAMBER, nor were we aware of it.
The Chamber never sells (or provides in any way) the contact information of our members in bulk. We never give out email addresses in bulk to anyone, not even Chamber members. We do provide your contact information as a referral if someone contacts us looking for your product or service.
We also have a two level access for emails published in our online Directory to guard against anyone mining the information in bulk.
We respect the privacy of our members and do everything we can to guard against our information being used to solicit or sell anything to our members via email (or any way other than through the Chamber).
I dislike SPAM emails as much as everyone. (GEnerally, when I get one of these, or an invite to docusign or verify something I am not aware of, I block the sender's email and report them. I blocked Jack and I will also block Jim Beam and Jose Cuervo if I get solicitations from them.
Some members are also getting phone calls seeking call backs or discussions of products or services. Those call are not from us, nor are they authorized by the Pasadena Chamber.
Our staff, Linda, Kelly, Paul or Leanne will call on behalf of the Chamber. We also have a contractor, TinaLyn who contacts members who have not renewed. Townsquare Publications sells ads for Pasadena Perspective (our digital magazine). Debra Wells may contact you on our behalf. She sells ads in our printed Business Directory.
If you ever have questions of concerns that a solicitation may not be from the Chamber or made on our behalf, please feel free to call the office at 616-795-3355 or email me.
You can always contact me at paul@pasadena-chamber.org. If you are contacted and what to verify the authenticity of the called or email before you respond, feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Paul