MONTREAL -- Hydro-Quebec is warning its subscribers to be on guard against fraudulent telephone calls.

The fraud involves a person, who claims to work for Hydro-Quebec asking the person on the phone to pay his bill immediately; otherwise the electricity service will be interrupted.

In a news release issued Saturday morning, Hydro-Quebec reminded customers that it has suspended service interruptions for non-payment and the application of late fees on unpaid invoices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Premier Francois Legault also said this during one of his press briefings, while speaking about the thousands of people have been laid off and are experiencing financial difficulties.

On its website, Hydro-Quebec specifies that the fraudulent purpose is to obtain personal information, such as the credit card number of the victims. It is therefore good to know that Hydro-Quebec does not accept payments by credit card and will never ask for a credit card number.

False job offers allegedly from Hydro-Quebec or one of its subsidiaries, such as Hydro-Quebec International, are also circulating. In these cases, the fraudsters claim to have obtained money for an opening and want to study of the candidates' files.

Again, this is a scam aimed at obtaining valuable personal information for fraudsters.

 

This report was first published April 25, 2020.