Consumer Alert
Pay your bills, not impersonators
If you’re paying a medical, utility, or other bill online, you probably expect to wind up on the company’s website. What might you not expect? An impersonator tricking you into paying them instead. But that’s what the FTC says a company called Doxo did. Here’s what you need to know.
According to the FTC, Doxo pretended to be an official payment site for big-name companies like AT&T, Spectrum, and Labcorp. The FTC says Doxo used online ads that looked like they were from the companies, and even used company names as keywords so Doxo’s ads would show up in search results.
If the bills got paid, what’s the problem? There’s lots of them, says the FTC. People who paid their bills through Doxo often paid fees to Doxo on top of what they owed on the bill they were trying to pay. And, in some cases, the payment never got to the company that issued the bill. People only found out when they got a warning letter from a bill collector or had their utility service shut off. Some people wound up paying late fees to the actual company that billed them — or paid their bill a second time, just to avoid other problems.
If you’re looking to pay your bill online, know that search results might not get you to the right place. Instead, check your bill to find the online payment site. And, if possible, use a credit card. Credit cards offer the most protection against fraud, including the right to dispute charges if there are any problems.
Learn more about impersonator scams at ftc.gov/impersonators. If you spot an impersonator scam, tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Image
Search Terms
Scams
It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.
The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.
- We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
- We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
- We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
- We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.
April 30, 2024
This is so good to know and I will share this on Facebook so more will know through my network of followers and FB FAMILY AND FRIENDS. I share all important information that the FTC sends to me via email...thank you for keeping us informed
April 30, 2024
You provided an image that was a link, words to the effect "Learn how to avoid impersonator scams". Clicking on that produced another image of exactly the same thing--no link, no information about how to avoid impersonator scams. Please fix it.
April 30, 2024
Well? Did you sue them for $MMs?
April 30, 2024
GREAT INFORMATION KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, AND KEEP EDUCATING ME
April 30, 2024
We need to go back to writing checks or using cash and that's it. Fraud is rampant online and with credit cards, debit cards, gift cards and anything plastic.
April 30, 2024
I thank you for your reports!
April 30, 2024
I had a recording call and said I didn’t pay my electric bill and it’s being turned off in 30 minutes. When I called the number back, it went to a personal voicemail.
April 30, 2024
Happened to me. Billed twice for a $72 medical bill I was sure I paid. Thankfully I stopped doxo after a couple months when a $9 charge for their service showed up, so that was all. $72 I'll never see again.
April 30, 2024
Thanks for making all of us aware of common threats we may not otherwise have known!
April 30, 2024
I have seen sites that appear to be the legitimate website but do not open like what is familiar. I avoid these and any that pretend to look like. Lately I have received sites identified as Netflix stating my payment is overdue. Another scam. Never open these or provide any personal data. Unfortunately, many are deceived without checking their legitimate sites for verification.
Add new comment