Scammers using summer heat to con people

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Summer is in full swing which means everyone's air conditioners are working overtime. And with the rise in temperatures, comes a rise in energy scams.

Electric companies are warning consumers about scammers posing as electricity providers. They're calling customers stating they have unpaid bill balances and threatening to disconnect their electricity unless funds are paid immediately.

"A criminal will call a consumer, claim to be with a retailer electricity provider and tell them if they don't make an immediate payment, of an absurd amount of money, that the power's going to get shut off. And that in it of itself should be a red flag," said Lauren Little with TXU Energy. "TXU Energy would never: A, alarm someone on a phone call; B, if a customer was going down a disconnect path with their account, there's a number of touch points that we would have with the customer, leading up to a conversation about a potential disconnection."

Experts tell us if you receive a call like this, hang up and look up your energy provider's phone number on your bill, or online and call them back to verify your account balance.

Another warning sign is if the caller asks you for a payment in the form of a Green Dot money card. That's one of the newer scams going around.