Beware of impersonating electricity employees to commit fraud

Some images and content of messages via Zalo from a subject impersonating an electricity employee demanding to collect monthly electricity bills from customers provided by the customer - Photo: TN

Previously, in 2022, 22 victims who were customers of the Quang Tri electricity industry were called by people pretending to be electricity industry employees and asked to pay their electricity bills or their electricity would be cut off.

Therefore, Quang Tri Provincial Police urgently sent a document to local authorities, advising people to be vigilant against people who request money transfers to personal accounts to pay electricity bills to avoid being scammed. The trick of the impostors is to ask customers to urgently deposit money into the bank accounts provided by these people, otherwise the electricity will be cut off.

In the following years, the impersonator continued to commit fraud against electricity customers. These subjects called and texted via Zalo to request information related to electricity bills.

The content of the calls is usually to notify customers that they have not paid their electricity bill, threaten to cut off the electricity if they do not pay the electricity bill immediately, or send messages via Zalo to customers asking for proof of payment of the most recent electricity bill to support comparison and update on the system.

The subject's zalo account often uses a profile picture with a photo frame promoting Earth Hour and a photo with an outfit similar to the electricity industry's uniform. During the exchange, the subject exploits the information of officials working at the local electricity company to get information to serve the next scam phone calls.

The subject sends the customer an account number requesting a money transfer if the customer replies that they have not paid or a link (containing malicious code) and asks the customer to click on the link sent via Zalo to check the paid electricity bill for the purpose of committing fraud of money in the customer's account.

Up to now, there have been phone numbers impersonating electricity employees provided by customers in April 2025 in areas in the province such as in Dong Ha area, phone number 0917699325 with zalo name Do Minh Duc; 0917744325 with zalo name "Dung Nguyen" and dozens of other nameless phone numbers in almost all localities in the province. Therefore, PC Quang Tri recommends that people using electricity need to be extremely vigilant against these increasingly sophisticated scams.

Mr. Ho Sy Hung, in Dong Thanh ward, Dong Ha city, has been receiving phone calls asking him to pay his electricity bill in recent days. It is worth mentioning that the impersonator has a clear understanding of his family situation, with his wife working in the mountains and his daughter studying in Hue , so there is a geographical distance and they rarely communicate directly with each other.

Moreover, his wife has been paying for his electricity bill for a long time, so if Mr. Hung suddenly got a call to pay, he would only need to be a little careless to transfer the money immediately because the information had not been verified with his wife and daughter. Knowing this special feature, the scammers immediately exploited it and in just a moment the scammers would have taken over the money. But fortunately, because he had been warned in advance, Mr. Hung was determined not to let the bad guys carry out the scam.

To avoid this fraud, PC Quang Tri has increased propaganda and sent warnings to customers through agreed channels such as EVNCPC CSKH application, email about the following contents: Introducing to customers the process; Resolving customer service requests; Payment of electricity bills; Implementation process of the electricity unit when notifying payment of electricity bills, notifying power outage due to electricity debt and accompanying warnings to avoid being scammed.

In particular, Quang Tri PC encourages customers to pay electricity bills through official channels. Instructions for online payment via EVNCPC's customer service website at the link: https://cskh. cpc.vn/thanh-toan/thanh-toan-qua-ngan-hang. Instructions for online payment via EVNCPC's customer service application. Payment via bank applications ( Agribank , Bidv, Vietcombank, Vietinbank, Sacombank, Mbbank, LP bank) or authorize the bank to withdraw money from the account to pay the monthly electricity bill. Payment via intermediary organizations (Post Office, Viettel, VNPT Media, ShopeePay, Momo, Payoo, VNPay, Paytech).

Make transactions through the correct online transaction channels as follows: Customer care hotline of the Central Power Corporation (EVNCPC): 19001909; Website: https:// cskh.cpc.vn; Application: EVNCPC CSKH on App Store/Google Play; Customer email to contact EVNCPC: cskh@cpc.vn; Customer email to receive notifications about electricity services: cskh.quangtri@cpc.vn or cskh@cpc.vn.

PC Quang Tri Director Phan Van Vinh said that to avoid being scammed, customers need to access information on official channels that the unit provides to customers in the contract. When phone numbers or information channels appear that are different from those in the contract, customers must contact EVNCPC's customer care center to get clearer information.

On the other hand, the company recommends that customers absolutely do not provide personal information, full name, citizen identification number, account number, to avoid being exploited economically by bad guys. In addition, the company encourages people and customers to pay electricity bills through bank payment services, collection payment. Because there, customers will transfer money through the pre-defined identification code of Quang Tri PC, so it is absolutely safe.

Tan Nguyen

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/canh-giac-ve-tinh-trang-mao-danh-nhan-vien-dien-luc-de-lua-dao-193671.htm