The shut-off threat arrives when the weather makes it credible
The FTC's utility scam alerts cluster around cold snaps and high-bill seasons — February 2021, September 2022, and a heating-cost warning tied to winter. That timing is the scheme's design: the threat of losing heat is only frightening when losing heat is dangerous, and a high bill is only plausible when bills are genuinely high.
- Year
- 2022
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Ongoing
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Utility shut-off scams, Charity and disaster scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-06
The facts, as recorded
- The FTC published "Utility scams are snow joke" in February 2021, during winter.
- It published "How to save money on utilities this winter and avoid scams" in September 2022, ahead of the heating season.
- The FTC's standing guidance notes scammers contact people by phone, text, email and in person about gas, electricity and water.
- The threat used is disconnection of gas, electric or water service if payment is not made immediately.
- The FTC pairs the scam warning with genuine advice on utility assistance programmes, because the underlying financial pressure is real.
- The same seasonal logic appears in the FTC's Medicare open enrolment alerts each autumn and its hurricane season alerts each spring.
Why this case matters
A shut-off threat in June is annoying. A shut-off threat during a February cold snap is terrifying, and terror is the product.
The FTC’s alert calendar shows the pattern from the defensive side: a warning in February 2021 during winter, another in September 2022 ahead of the heating season. The agency publishes when the scam arrives, and the scam arrives when the threat lands hardest.
Two things happen at once in winter
The threat becomes dangerous. Losing heating in January is not an inconvenience; for an older person or a family with a baby it is a genuine emergency. A caller who can credibly threaten that has far more leverage than one threatening to interrupt your cable.
The bill becomes plausible. Winter bills are genuinely large and genuinely variable. “You are behind by $400” is a claim most people cannot immediately falsify in December in a way they could in May.
That combination — a frightening consequence and an unverifiable premise — is what makes the season work, and it is why the same call fails at a different time of year.
The same trick, everywhere
This is the clearest example on this site of a general principle: a scam does not have to be convincing if it arrives at the moment the real thing does.
The FTC’s Medicare alerts arrive before open enrolment each autumn. Its hurricane alerts arrive before hurricane season. Delivery scams peak in December. Tax scams peak at filing season.
None of those messages would work in isolation. All of them work when a real deadline has already put the recipient in the frame of mind the scam needs.
What the FTC does that most advice does not
The September 2022 alert pairs the scam warning with genuine advice on utility assistance programmes.
That is worth noticing, because the person most vulnerable to a shut-off threat is a person who is actually behind on their bill and actually frightened of disconnection. Telling them to hang up addresses the scam and not the fear.
The programmes are real, they are free to apply to, and they are reached through your utility or your state — which is also, conveniently, exactly the phone call that resolves the scam.
Sources
- Utility scams are snow joke. US Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The February 2021 winter-timed alert.
- How to save money on utilities this winter and avoid scams. US Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The September 2022 alert pairing scam warnings with genuine utility assistance advice.
- Scammers Pretend To Be Your Utility Company. US Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The channels used, the services threatened and the disconnection threat.
- This Medicare Open Enrollment season, learn how to protect yourself from scams. US Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The comparable seasonal alert pattern in another category.