LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - Scammers are after your personal information and in exchange, they give you a false bank routing number for you to pay your utility bills.
According to North Little Rock Electric, the scammers are now asking for the red number on the back of your social security card. This number is a very important control number and used to verify the legitimacy of the card.
Many times this scam uses President Obama's name in an attempt to convince consumers he authorized the government to pay their utility bills.
There is no such program and the Arkansas Attorney General's Office says many times victims don't find out until their utility company slaps them with late fees.
"Consumers find out when they call their utility company that this is a very common scam, it's blown up over the last week and a half or so. And that there are no funds available and the bank routing number doesn't exist and that they still owe the money on their utility bill," says Sarah Tacker, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division.
North Little Rock officials tell us the scammers will also use fliers, and text messages to scam people out of their personal information.
If you have received one of these scam phone calls you can report it to the attorney general's office online www.gotyourbackarkansas.org or you can call their consumer hot line at 1-800-482-8982.