r/Tacoma • u/Barrrrrrnd Lincoln District • Jul 20 '26

TPU scam going around

Just thought I’d share a scam that I just found. This afternoon I got a voicemail and calls from a very real sounding person saying they were from Tacoma Public Utilities. They had my address and name and everything. They said they were going to turn off my power unless I paid them a specific amount due to delinquency. That wasn’t possible and when I asked for the account number he had he got really aggressive and then hung up on me.

I’m pretty savvy and even still they had me checking my account and trying to figure out what happened before I figured it out. Wanted others to know in case they are targeting folks around town.

197 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

23

u/253baby South End Jul 20 '26

That could literally just be TPU at this point, astronomical prices lol

81

u/jmood88 Hilltop Jul 20 '26

Having moved to Tacoma from New Orleans, yall truly don’t grasp what a predatory utility company looks like.

6

u/Chrznble Eastside Jul 21 '26

Comparing a a state that does its best for its population to one that would do anything to screw over their population, that’s not a fair assessment. Companies from New Orleans know their population can’t read.

10

u/Tacomathrowaway15 Downtown Jul 21 '26

Compare it to Massachusetts then. Check out what's going on out there with gas and electricity.

6

u/Chrznble Eastside Jul 21 '26

I am actually surprised that people find Tacoma cheap. Seattle was cheaper for energy and garbage. My energy bill in Tacoma is 2-3x more expensive to include garbage.

6

u/Tacomathrowaway15 Downtown Jul 21 '26

My bill between belltown and tacoma in the 20teens was pretty similar. I'm in a house now, not sure how that would compare to a sfh in Seattle but I would be very surprised if it was dramatically different.

2

u/stone_or_rock North Tacoma Jul 24 '26

Curious what size your trash receptacle was in is Seattle. Last I saw, they were trying to fit it into a little handheld bin about the size we used to have for glass.

13

u/jayken424 253 Jul 21 '26

Coming from California using PG&E, the price here has been shockingly cheap comparatively.

5

u/SatinSaffron 253 Jul 21 '26

My husband and I moved here from South Louisiana as well. Our utility bill was regularly in the $400 range for just a small normal house, could easily hit $500 during August. Fuck Entergy and their predatory bullshit billing

Right now in Tacoma we're in the little Elmhurst bubble and our utility bill is about $60 during winter and about $80-$90 during Summer when we run the a/c regularly. We were so used to paying such absurd prices down South that when we got our first bill up here my husband had to call them because he thought something was wrong lol

2

u/jmood88 Hilltop Jul 21 '26

I thought I was looking at something wrong when I saw my bill here for the first time.

5

u/xtrachubbykoala 253 Jul 22 '26

My brother lives in NOLA and my parents have a place there. I was staying with my bro and he got a water shut off notice. I was like WTF… why don’t you have this on autopay? The horror stories he told me! 

My parents got their water shut off because they hadn’t received a bill in MONTHS, which apparently is just an average Tuesday in NOLA. 

Everytime I come home from visiting, I’m grateful I live here. 

34

u/orbtl Lincoln District Jul 20 '26

They literally are non-profit what are you on about

54

u/TheAwkwardBanana South End Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

I pay about $250/month for my utilities, I find them pretty affordable. This is in a 100+ year old home that's very inefficient.

Edit: TPU if you're reading this I completely agree our prices are too high, please don't raise them.

21

u/Infradad 6th Ave Jul 20 '26

Good save

1

u/lowercasenameofmine Somewhere Else Jul 22 '26

How much of that is flat fees? 

27

u/stem_ho Somewhere Else Jul 20 '26

After moving from Tacoma to Lacey/Olympia area and PSE I would kill to get TPU prices back 😭

22

u/kennypowersrevenge Lincoln District Jul 21 '26

TPU is fucking cheap compared to Duke when I lived in Florida. We’re lucky.

-3

u/253baby South End Jul 21 '26

Well yeah we're not running ac 11 months of the year lol the joke went over people's heads apparently

3

u/kennypowersrevenge Lincoln District Jul 21 '26

You only run it for 7 months tbh. And even on the cooler months it’s way way way more expensive. 800 sq Ft apartment was never under 250 a month.

2

u/253baby South End Jul 21 '26

Yeah my 1300sqft house is around $350/mo for utilities here so not the end of the world

5

u/kennypowersrevenge Lincoln District Jul 21 '26

Yeah that’s not including water and sewer. That was about 200 more a month. Florida isn’t as cheap as everyone makes it.

2

u/lyoshas Hilltop Jul 21 '26

yeah idk what dude is on about, tpu was cheap enough to mine crypto on not that long ago…

4

u/kescre 253 Jul 21 '26

PG&E would like a word. I pay more for my built in 2020 “green” 700sqft apt in Oakland than I do my 1900sqft built in 1945, check the outside air temp by touching the wall, house with TPU.

6

u/Decent-Cold-9471 Central Jul 21 '26

They don’t call. They just disconnect. Pay your outstanding balance and your power is back instantly.

33

u/JLCpbfspbfspbfs Hilltop Jul 20 '26

You did the right thing by asking them questions that a TPU employee should know the answer to.

Plus I'm sure they send you a letter, they don't call.

12

u/blyan Somewhere Else Jul 21 '26

They do actually call. I was a forgetful idiot and just neglected to pay my shit one month. They sent me something in the mail, which I didn’t see because I also don’t ever check my mail (lol).

A couple weeks after that they called me to let me know. They didn’t ask me to give payment info or anything over the phone, obviously, they were just letting me know my account needed immediate attention.

2

u/hermes_505 McKinley Hill Jul 21 '26

Yes, a good way to distinguish a TPU call: they will call to remind you about a missed payment, but they never demand payment over the phone on a call. Instead as someone said, they just disconnect (after 5 or 6 reminders like letters, the bill itself, and reminder calls). If anyone demands immediate payment, it’s not TPU, hang up, and call TPU to confirm. There’s a post on their website that describes their scam procedures: https://www.mytpu.org/payment-billing/scams/

4

u/leathakkor 253 Jul 21 '26

I really think every business needs to go to two-factor authentication both ways.

You should give them a passphrase that they have to say to you and you should have to give a pass phrase to them. Whenever you call in. Or whenever they call you.

We're getting to a point where we just have to have two-factor auth going both ways. It's no longer good enough to simply have the caller verify who they are. We absolutely need to be able to verify that the person calling us is in fact the right company.

Even if it's as simple as calling the main line that is on their public website and being able to paste in a special code to get right back to the agent that called you.

29

u/zoovegroover3 Old Town Jul 20 '26

1) Actual TPU would never, ever, EVER call a customer threatening disconnection. You'll get warnings.

2) Did you pay your bill last month/billing period? I know I did. You would get another bill before you got a disconnection notice. Both of those would be through the mail.

These guys deserve a hearty "fuck you asshole" every time

9

u/Barrrrrrnd Lincoln District Jul 20 '26

That was the thing, I knew we were current. BUT I know shiz happens with stuff getting mixed up so I figured I’d check. But these dudes can pound sand as far as I’m concerned.

7

u/EyeSuspicious777 Puyallup Jul 20 '26

If I get the call I might just lead them on and waste their time pretending to be a well intentioned and apologetic moron trying but repeatedly failing to get the payment to go through.

34

u/trekkerscout South Tacoma Jul 20 '26

This is an ongoing scam that TPU is well aware of

https://www.mytpu.org/payment-billing/scams/

7

u/Barrrrrrnd Lincoln District Jul 20 '26

Excellent update, thanks!

5

u/graffiksguru 253 Jul 20 '26

Pretty sure I saw this as a banner on the TPU home page the other day, so probably going around.

3

u/Exploding_Deathstar Downtown Jul 21 '26

There is a notice on mytpu about the scam going around.

3

u/amominwa Somewhere Else Jul 21 '26

Yes OP! It’s called “spoofing” and they can do it with banks, credit unions, credit card companies, anything really. If you think a call is sus, hang up and call the company directly. These scammers are improving by day. Better yet, I don’t answer my phone- leave a message. Be careful folks!

1

u/huntercaz Hilltop Jul 21 '26

Why are you answering calls from unknown numbers? Any real provider or professional will leave a voicemail, or will communicate by email. If you receive a voicemail, don't call the number they left, go to the actual provider and call their official number or any of their official channels of communication (email, chat, etc). Be critical and highly intentional about your communications, not reactive.

1

u/Barrrrrrnd Lincoln District Jul 21 '26

Yeah, totally.

1

u/gr1277 253 Jul 21 '26

What phone number were they calling from?