Possible energy scam???

Brie

Waiting to hear back from a friend but thought I'd check here in the meantime.   

So friend has messaged me annoyed that OVO has told him they need to repay the £400 that was sent to them previously. (????) So they will send this to his bank account and he needs to repay this into his energy account. 

I've asked him for details but this looks on the surface like a scam to me.

Anyone else seen this??? And know if it's legit???

[Deleted User]

If it's a scam, it's an odd one - getting him to pay money to his energy supplier.

gfunkuk

Probably give specific account details to pay the money into, which won't be the supplier and will have a random beneficiary name.

cymruchris

Why would they send them money to then deposit back into the energy account? Sounds very fishy to me... They could just 'move' the money internally I'm sure if the payment was in the wrong place. Did your friend send them £400? Or is this in reference the £400 payment that everyone is getting?

FreeBear

Seeing as no one (that I know of) has received this £400 yet, and it is going to be paid out in chunks of £67 over the next six months.. OVO will have a direct debit mandate in place that would allow them to dip into a customers account, so they don't need to ask for a separate transaction..

If it smells like a scam, it probably is. How was the message delivered ?

Send a copy to hello@ovoenergy.com and/or infosec@ovoenergy.com and ask for conformation.

Spoonie_Turtle

If he's in any doubt, he should make certain to only do things through logging in to his account directly through a web browser, not opening any links in e-mails claiming to be from Ovo.  That way he can be sure he's safe.

Brie

Glad I'm not the only one that thinks it sounds weird. Apparently this was to correct something paid months back which sounded very odd to me.

gj373

Sounds like a potential money laundering scam 

MattMattMattUK

It will likely be a roundabout scam. They nominally pay you the money, it shows in your account, you transfer it to them and then whatever method they used to transfer the money bounces, so you are out of pocket. They might pay in a fraudulent cheque in a branch, they might make a transfer from a hacked account etc. They already have your money and they will be long gone by that stage. 

MSE_Laura_F

In case this is helpful to your friend, @Brie:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/07/dwp-cost-of-living-scam-texts-warning/

It doesn't mention this exact scam though - I've passed on your post to the news team so they're aware of it.

Thanks,

MSE Laura F

Brie

MSE_Laura_F said:

In case this is helpful to your friend, @Brie:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/07/dwp-cost-of-living-scam-texts-warning/

It doesn't mention this exact scam though - I've passed on your post to the news team so they're aware of it.

Thanks,

MSE Laura F

Thanks Laura - on further investigation it doesn't appear that this is a scam.

Turns out it is the anticipated £400 that energy companies are being given and then should hit our accounts in the next four months.  And what it is that he needs to make his DD payment as normal and then they will credit back the £67ish to his bank account.  Possibly because currently, he is in credit.  I asked a colleague today if she'd heard of this and apparently, she'd had the same message from her provider Scottish Power.  

This makes me wonder if it's an industry wide agreed way to deal with these payments if someone is in credit.

I haven't heard anything about this from my provider (Eon) but perhaps that's because I'm not in credit.  I must admit I had thought that the money would just sit on the account until it was required so mine would be used immediately while friend and colleague's would be used when their energy use increases over winter.