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The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) is warning its customers to be alert to a bill payment scam that is affecting utility customers across the country. The scammers are claiming that President Obama will pay customers’ utility bills through a new federal program. That claim is false, and fraudulent.

According to the Better Business Bureau, utility customers have been contacted in person, through fliers, through social media, and via text messages with claims that President Obama can provide credits or apply payments to their bills. The scammers then direct the customers to send their Social Security and bank routing numbers. In return, customers are given a false bank routing number that will supposedly pay their utility bills.

In truth, there is no money in the “program,” and customers believe they’ve paid their bills, when in fact, they have not.

DWSD has posted an alert on its website at www.dwsd.org, urging customers not to participate in the scam. Moreover, DWSD officials advise customers not to provide any personal, confidential information to people who claim to be affiliated with a presidential program that pays utility bills. Customers also should keep records of payment verification, and should never assume a pending payment has been accepted until the payment is verified with the customer account number.

For more information on the utility bill payment scam, visit the Better Business Bureau’s website at www.bbb.org/us/article/president-obama-is-not-offering-to-pay-your-utility-bills-34928.

DWSD supplies high-quality drinking water to Detroit and 126 other communities in southeast Michigan. The Department provides wastewater services to Detroit and 76 other southeast Michigan communities.