BBB Tip: Beware of unauthorized utility account changes, known as “slamming”

Have you noticed that your utility or phone bill is much higher than expected?  Could your account have been switched over to a third party without your knowledge? If this sounds familiar, you may have encountered an unethical tactic known as slamming.

What is slamming?

Slamming is the practice of reassigning a consumer’s account to another provider without that consumer’s informed consent. It can take many forms but typically affects energy and telephone service suppliers and their customers.

Before a company can switch a customer’s account to another provider, it must receive informed permission from the authentic account holder. Permission can be obtained in verbal, electronic, or paper document formats.

How can you avoid slamming?

• Avoid answering your phone or responding to questions from unfamiliar callers with the word “yes” – scam callers may subsequently alter the call recording to falsely indicate that you verbally agreed to switch providers. Misleading contacts from deceptive businesses can also appear via emails and text messages (which may even contain malware from unscrupulous scammers, resulting in potential ID theft). 
• Watch out for mailings that state your service provider will be switched if you do not take action (e.g., affirmatively opt-out) to prevent it or that announce a sudden and surprising rate increase. This may come from your current energy supplier as an “account drop notice” or from another party. If the account holder does not respond in a timely manner to opt out of the change to another provider, that may result in an unauthorized switch.
• Be wary of approaches from representatives in public spaces, or as door-to-door inquiries, offering gift cards or other incentives to consider switching. Some may make enticing claims about substantial savings on your service that turn out to be false, or only applicable for a very brief “introductory” period of time. Never consider switching your account without understanding all terms and conditions fully and demanding written statements regarding all rate policies, promises, and claims made by reps, specifically claims made orally.
• In some states, where laws make it easier for this to happen, a scammer who gets hold of your utility bill or account number may be able to engineer an unauthorized switch in your name. Make sure you have an understanding of the laws in your state pertaining to this practice and protect your utility bills; it’s a good idea to shred them when you no longer need them.

What can you do if slamming happens to you?

• Contact your original energy provider to state that your account has been fraudulently switched and ask for their help in restoring your account (inquire if they have a customer fraud department).
• Create a paper trail showing that the unauthorized switch has been challenged at the first bill as proof that you provided immediate notice before any further charges accrued to your account. You can also report the incident to the regulatory authority in your state that oversees utilities (to learn your customer rights and file a formal complaint where necessary), and to the Better Business Bureau. 
• Check with your state Attorney General’s office if you are unsure which government agency in your state would handle such complaints.
• If you think your identity has been spoofed to make a scam switch happen, file an ID theft report with the police department and the Federal Trade Commission and notify all three major credit reporting agencies to place an immediate “freeze” on your credit. For tips to freeze your credit, check out BBB Tip: Credit freezes and fraud alerts. To be effective, a freeze must be separately set up with all three credit bureaus -
  • Experian: experian.com/freeze/center.html 
  • Transunion: transunion.com/credit-freeze
  • Equifax: equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/

For additional tips on handling identity theft issues, visit BBB’s resource center at BBB.org/all/identity-theft and the FTC’s resource at identitytheft.gov.

For help with other questions about slamming, you are welcome to contact your local BBB. For more information about cramming, a related issue, see BBB Tip: Overcharged on your phone bill? Watch out for cramming.

Report suspicious activities to BBB Scam Tracker. 

Read more about BBB Accreditation Standards and BBB Standards for Trust.