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Utilities and Grant Offers: Verifying Claimed Government Help

This guide presents selected U.S. government consumer education from Federal Trade Commission. References to “we” or “us” in the source material refer to the issuing agency. Source dates and links appear below.

Scammers Pretend To Be Your Utility Company

If you get an unexpected call, text, email, or in-person visit from your gas, electric, or water company and they threaten to shut off your service unless you pay them, it’s a scam. Here’s what to know about utility scams.

How Utility Scams Work

Scammers often pretend to be utility companies to steal your money. They might call, text, email, or visit you in person and threaten to shut off your gas, electric, or water service if you don’t pay them immediately. These scammers want to scare you into paying before you have time to confirm what they’re telling you. But real utility companies don’t do this.

Scammers will often say you can only pay them by wiring money through a company like Western Union or MoneyGram, using cryptocurrency, using a payment app, or putting money on a gift card and then giving them the numbers on the back of the card. Scammers tell you to pay this way because it’s hard to get your money back when you use one of these methods.

How To Avoid Utility Scams

  1. Know that real utility companies won’t demand immediate payment to avoid same-day disconnection. If someone contacts you claiming to be from your utility company and threatening to shut off your service if you don’t pay on the spot, hang up. Don’t click any links or respond to the message. And if they show up at your door, don’t let them pressure their way into your home.

  2. Contact the company yourself. If you have questions about your account balances, pending payments, or billing issues, contact your utility company using the number on your bill or the company’s website.

    If you do an online search for the utility company’s website, review the search results carefully before clicking. Your top search results online are often paid ads, which dishonest businesses sometimes use to impersonate real utility companies so that you’ll click their website instead. Even if some of these businesses pay your bill, they might also charge you a bunch of fees that you wouldn’t have to pay if you visited your utility company’s website directly. Scroll to the unpaid search results to help make sure you have the right number or website.

  3. Never pay anyone who demands payment by wire transfer, cryptocurrency, payment app, or gift cards. Only scammers say you can only pay one of those ways. Your utility company won’t ask you to pay any of those ways. Neither will any other legitimate business.

If you’re actually behind on your utility bills, read Getting Utility Services: Why Your Credit Matters to learn more about your options.

What To Do if You Paid a Scammer

If you paid a scammer, read What To Do if You Were Scammed for specific steps to take depending on how you paid.

Report Utility Scams

If you spot a utility scam, report it to

Government Grant Scams

Offers of free money from government grants are scams. Someone might offer you a grant to pay for education, home repairs, home business expenses, or unpaid bills. But they’re all scams. Here’s how to avoid a government grant scam, and how to report it.

How Government Grant Scammers Try To Trick You

  • Scammers reach you in lots of ways. They put ads online for (fake) government grants. Or they might call you using a fake number that shows up on your caller ID so it looks like they’re calling from a federal or state government agency. Some send texts, emails, or messages on social media saying you might qualify for free money from the government.
  • Scammers make big promises. They might say you can get free money or a grant to pay for education, home repairs, home business expenses, household bills, or other personal needs.
  • Scammers try to look official. Besides faking their phone number, scammers will pretend they’re with a real government agency like the Social Security Administration. Or, they’ll make up an official-sounding name of a government agency, like the Federal Grants Administration, which doesn’t exist.
  • Scammers ask you for information or money. Government grant scammers might start by asking for personal information, like your Social Security number, to see if you “qualify” for the grant (you will). Then they’ll ask for your bank account information — maybe to deposit “grant money” into your account or to pay up-front fees. Or they’ll ask you to pay those fees with a gift card, cash reload card, wire  transfer, or cryptocurrency. That’s always a scam. Read this Government Imposters fotonovela to see how it happens.
  • Scammers try to be convincing. They might even promise a refund if you aren’t satisfied. But that’s a lie. Once you give your bank account information, or pay fees, your money will disappear. And, you’ll never see the grant they promise.

What To Know About Government Grants

  • The government won’t get in touch out of the blue about grants. It won’t call, text, reach out through social media, or email you. It won’t offer you free government grants of any kind, much less grants to pay for home repairs, medical costs, or other personal needs. Real government grants require an application, and they’re always for a very specific purpose. Learn more (for free) at grants.gov.
  • Never share your financial or personal information with anyone who contacts you. Government agencies will never call, text, message you on social media, or email to ask for your Social Security, bank account, or credit card number. In fact, no matter who they say they are, don’t give out that information. Once a scammer has your information, they can drain money from your accounts, or steal your identity.
  • Don’t pay for a list of government grants — and don’t pay any up-front fees. The only place to find a list of all available federal grants is at grants.gov. And that list is free. No government agency will ever contact you to demand that you pay to get a grant. And no government agency will ever ask you to pay with cash, a gift card, a cash reload card, by wire transfer, or with cryptocurrency. Not for a grant, and not ever.
  • If you paid a scammer, act quickly. If you think you’ve sent money to a government impersonator like one of these grant scammers, contact the company you used to send the money. Tell the gift card, money transfer, or cryptocurrency company that it was a fraudulent transaction. Then ask them to reverse it.

What To Do If You Paid A Scammer

Scammers often ask you to pay in ways that make it tough to get your money back. No matter how you paid a scammer, the sooner you act, the better. Learn more about how to get your money back.

Report Government Grant Scams

If you spotted a scam, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC uses and shares reports with law enforcement partners to help with investigations.

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Our Anatomy of an Imposter Scam blog series breaks down how to recognize, avoid, and report business and government imposter scams.

Sources and publication details

The federal agency source text is U.S. government work in the public domain. Fynoptic selected, adapted, and formatted it for this guide. No agency endorsement is implied. Follow the linked sources for current program details and the rules applicable to your circumstances.

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