Press Releases

Utility Scam Awareness Day Set for Nov. 17

BROWNSVILLE, TX – The Brownsville Public Utilities Board (BPUB), in collaboration with Utilities United Against Scams (UUAS), will recognize the sixth annual Utility Scam Awareness Day on Wednesday, Nov. 17. Utility Scam Awareness Day is part of the week-long National Scam Awareness Week (Nov.14-Nov.19), a campaign focused on educating customers and exposing tactics used by scammers. This year’s theme is “Stop the Call. Stop the Scam.”

“We tend to see a rise in utility scams around the holiday season,” said BPUB General Manager & CEO John S. Bruciak. “It’s terrible that there are people who target utility customers, but BPUB is committed to continue educating the community on scam prevention throughout the year so our customers stay abreast of the latest scam trends and don’t fall prey to these schemes.”

UUAS is an association of more than 140 U.S. and Canadian electric, water, and natural gas utilities dedicated to combating impostor utility scams. Since BPUB joined UUAS in 2019, it has attended monthly meetings with the association to learn about new scam prevention tactics and implement initiatives to inform and protect customers.

BPUB reminds customers to stay cautious whenever speaking to a live operator through an unsolicited phone call. BPUB will never have live operators call customers to request payments or offer to pay the bill in exchange for a portion of the outstanding balance. Customers are encouraged to hang up the phone and call BPUB to verify their account status.

Unsolicited requests for payments, property access, personal information and bank routing numbers should be reported to the Brownsville Police Department at (956) 548-7000 or by visiting the nearest community police station.

For more information and tips on how customers can protect themselves from imposter utility scams, visit www.brownsville-pub.com  and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.