Electric bill scam!

[Wobblybob]

Wifey just told me, should anyone receive an electric bill like this one, don't pay it..... it's a scam.

 

 

[circa02]

Haha love it.  Will take out a few villages for sure. Even when it makes the news they'll still trust the little Line sticker..

 

Risky though as some houses will have CCTV should be easy to get the delivery mule. Can you do a cleaner scan of QR code.

Edited October 25, 2023 by circa02

[Crossy]

I only pay anything on officially printed PEA bills.

 

https://www.pea.co.th/ข่าวสารประกาศ/ข่าวประชาสัมพันธ์/ArtMID/542/ArticleID/153553/PEA-เตือนประชาชน-อย่าหลงเชื่อมิจฉาชีพ-ปลอมบัญชี-LINE-Official-Account-ของการไฟฟ้าส่วนภูมิภาค-PEA

 

Use Google Translate.

 

 

 

 

 

[Wobblybob]

6 hours ago, circa02 said:

Haha love it.  Will take out a few villages for sure. Even when it makes the news they'll still trust the little Line sticker..

 

Risky though as some houses will have CCTV should be easy to get the delivery mule. Can you do a cleaner scan of QR code.

Sorry that's how the wife got it from a meeting at the Tessaban.

[Sigmund]

In Italy, in many regions, the people get 2 bills, One from the regular company and another one that is also official but sent by the local mafia.

[Crossy]

The QR goes to an official-looking Line account "PEA Next".

 

Do NOT go there!!

[billd766]

We live in a village in rural Kamphaeng Phet and the PEA meter reader always comes on the 23rd of the month, no matter what the day is.

 

My wife goes to the Amphur village to the PEA office and pays in cash.

 

We have paid the bill the same way for 19 years now. 

 

No scams here.

[matchar]

Actually it's not a scam according to Thai media.

 

In Bangkok they are nagging us to use e-billing on MEA connect or something.

I just pay my bill through the Thai banking apps it's very easy and it saves all your details and knows your bill amount already.

[Mutt Daeng]

This is another reason that I use the PEA app to "send" the monthly bill to my bank app.

Edited October 26, 2023 by Mutt Daeng

[Moonlover]

13 hours ago, matchar said:

Actually it's not a scam according to Thai media.

 

In Bangkok they are nagging us to use e-billing on MEA connect or something.

I just pay my bill through the Thai banking apps it's very easy and it saves all your details and knows your bill amount already.

MEA and PEA are separate entities. To support e-billing they have fit 'smart meters' and there are very few of those around in the rural communities.

 

Do you have a link to this 'Thai media' that you claim says this is not a scam?

Edited October 26, 2023 by Moonlover

[matchar]

2 hours ago, Moonlover said:

MEA and PEA are separate entities. To support e-billing they have fit 'smart meters' and there are very few of those around in the rural communities.

 

Do you have a link to this 'Thai media' that you claim says this is not a scam?

Yes but it's only in Thai:

https://mgronline.com/onlinesection/detail/9660000049697

I think the official Line account is legit but there also probably a lot of fake clones so beware.

 

I know the MEA is a different entity and I don't think the MEA system relies on smart meters...they just want to save on paper and printing costs but they still read the meters manually AFAIK.

[Crossy]

According to the PEA site I linked to earlier the official account is PEAThailand.

https://www.pea.co.th/ข่าวสารประกาศ/ข่าวประชาสัมพันธ์/ArtMID/542/ArticleID/153553/PEA-เตือนประชาชน-อย่าหลงเชื่อมิจฉาชีพ-ปลอมบัญชี-LINE-Official-Account-ของการไฟฟ้าส่วนภูมิภาค-PEA

 

[wwest5829]

19 hours ago, Crossy said:

I only pay anything on officially printed PEA bills.

 

https://www.pea.co.th/ข่าวสารประกาศ/ข่าวประชาสัมพันธ์/ArtMID/542/ArticleID/153553/PEA-เตือนประชาชน-อย่าหลงเชื่อมิจฉาชีพ-ปลอมบัญชี-LINE-Official-Account-ของการไฟฟ้าส่วนภูมิภาค-PEA

 

Use Google Translate.

 

 

 

 

 

Agreed and directly through the bank which shows me the PEA account number and amount due. Have done this way for a number of years.

[brianthainess]

18 hours ago, billd766 said:

We live in a village in rural Kamphaeng Phet and the PEA meter reader always comes on the 23rd of the month, no matter what the day is.

 

My wife goes to the Amphur village to the PEA office and pays in cash.

 

We have paid the bill the same way for 19 years now. 

 

No scams here.

I pay by direct debit no scam there either. I rarely even check the paper  bill. My wife gets an SMS from PEA but she never bothers to tell me.

[KhunBENQ]

Since years I pay through the PEA app and use bank transfer.

The bill is on the app one day after the paper slips are in the box.

 

QR scam is a new trend not only here.

Scam/spam mails now coming with not much more than a QR code.

Some people can not control their curiosity.

Seems it's used because currently virus scanners/protection SW does not look into QR codes.

Never use SW that starts links from QR codes without confirmation.

 

[billd766]

17 hours ago, matchar said:

Actually it's not a scam according to Thai media.

 

In Bangkok they are nagging us to use e-billing on MEA connect or something.

I just pay my bill through the Thai banking apps it's very easy and it saves all your details and knows your bill amount already.

Which bank is that.

 

I am with KBank and the PEA and they didn't have that app the last time I looked.

[KhunBENQ]

27 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I am with KBank and the PEA and they didn't have that app the last time I looked.

I installed the PEA app and through this you have misc options to pay the bill.

Bet that Kasikorn bank transfer is included.

As I already paid I can not check/screenshot.

 

ebill is yet another matter. It means you don't get the paper slip with the bill but only by email?

 

MEA: I can't find how electronic payment for MEA works.
Their app doesn't seem to offer? Just show the next payment location?

 

PEA includes seven major banks:

Edited October 26, 2023 by KhunBENQ

[jimn]

I sometimes think people who deal with the hassle of paying their bills must be bored and need something to do to fill there days. I pay my internet, Water and Electric by direct debit. You set it up and forget about it. I check to see if its all gone through if I have a need to go into the banking app. Easy.

[expat_4_life]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

I pay by direct debit no scam there either. I rarely even check the paper  bill. My wife gets an SMS from PEA but she never bothers to tell me.

 

This is the way I do it too, never a chance to forget, no concern about delayed receipt of the bill, no need to go pay, and you can be away from home without a care or thought. 👍

Edited October 26, 2023 by expat_4_life

[Seeall]

21 hours ago, circa02 said:

Haha love it.  Will take out a few villages for sure. Even when it makes the news they'll still trust the little Line sticker..

 

Risky though as some houses will have CCTV should be easy to get the delivery mule. Can you do a cleaner scan of QR code.

Non thinking in the box, programed robots..  just dont beleive the farang, dirty smell liars...

[lopburi3]

5 hours ago, Moonlover said:

MEA and PEA are separate entities. To support e-billing they have fit 'smart meters' and there are very few of those around in the rural communities.

 

Do you have a link to this 'Thai media' that you claim says this is not a scam?

Actually Bangkok MEA came around few months ago to obtain telephone numbers for households getting electric bills - and provided incentive plastic containers for anyone doing.  Now instead of a paper bill we get an SMS link to MEA website bill.  Not too great when phone is not used for data - bit hard to read the several lines of letters/numbers/symbols to get to website using computer may take a few tries.  Bangkok still using old meters.  We still using old phone.

[WDSmart]

I have just the opposite "problem." 

About four months ago, my electric bill, which is usually THB 5K or more, was only a couple hundred baht. I had no idea what had happened, but I thought it might be some sort of rebate from the government. However, the next month, it was the same, only a couple hundred baht. I also noticed then that the meter reading was very low.

I had my wife (Thai) tell the electric company that we think the bill is incorrect and suspect the meter is malfunctioning. But nothing has changed for the past two months, even though my wife reminds them every time we get a bill.

So, who knows what's going to happen? 😦

Edited October 26, 2023 by WDSmart

[soi3eddie]

19 hours ago, matchar said:

Actually it's not a scam according to Thai media.

 

In Bangkok they are nagging us to use e-billing on MEA connect or something.

I just pay my bill through the Thai banking apps it's very easy and it saves all your details and knows your bill amount already.

Same here. MEA send me reminders by text SMS and email. The bill is also shownline at the MEA account. My online banking with Kbank knows the correct amount too. The meter is read on 5th day each month so I set a reminder to login and pay on 6th of month. My UK electricity provider send all by email and does direct debit. Wish I could easily set-up direct debit for my Thai condo as if not paid within about 2 weeks they may come and remove the meter!

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by soi3eddie

[soi3eddie]

3 hours ago, matchar said:

I know the MEA is a different entity and I don't think the MEA system relies on smart meters...they just want to save on paper and printing costs but they still read the meters manually AFAIK.

MEA read the meters manually (mine is not a smart meter) and once opted for online billing, they no longer put a bill in the mailbox. 

 

[soi3eddie]

9 minutes ago, WDSmart said:

I have just the opposite "problem." 

About four months ago, my electric bill, which is usually THB 5K or more, was only a couple hundred baht. I had no idea what had happened, but I thought it might be some sort of rebate from the government. However, the next month, it was the same, only a couple hundred baht. I also noticed then that the meter reading was very low.

I had my wife (Thai) tell the electric company that we think the bill is incorrect and suspect the meter is malfunctioning. But nothing has changed for the past two months, even though my wife reminds them every time we get a bill.

So, who knows what's going to happen? 😦

They will change the meter and start billing properly again. This happened to me a few years ago. No claim for any underpayment of months when the meter was faulty. YMMV.

 

[expat_4_life]

8 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Same here. MEA send me reminders by text SMS and email. The bill is also shownline at the MEA account. My online banking with Kbank knows the correct amount too. The meter is read on 5th day each month so I set a reminder to login and pay on 6th of month. My UK electricity provider send all by email and does direct debit. Wish I could easily set-up direct debit for my Thai condo as if not paid withing about 2 weeks they may come and remove the meter!

 

 

I have direct debit, set it up over a decade ago. At the time I think it was a trip to the MEA to obtain a form requesting to pay by direct debit, then a trip to my bank to authorize it.

Deductions started a month or two later, never a worry since. Well worth the "inconvience" to set it up.

Edited October 26, 2023 by expat_4_life

[Red Forever]

Can I mention a water bill scam?

A few months ago the lady came round to read our water meter. I heard my partner querying it and sure enough it was 100+baht higher than it should have been. I looked at the bill and told my partner to wait . I went indoors and found the previous month's bill and meter reading and showed the collector this thereby proving that she had overcharged by 20+ units. I told partner to pay her the correct amount. The collector knew she'd been rumbled and gave wais and "kor tort".

I made sure that all villagers were made aware of this theft.

BTW I'm the only farang in the village so it would have been easy to assume that it was a "farang can afford it" scam but it turns out that she was scamming her own villagers.

[MJCM]

19 hours ago, matchar said:

Actually it's not a scam according to Thai media.

 

In Bangkok they are nagging us to use e-billing on MEA connect or something.

I just pay my bill through the Thai banking apps it's very easy and it saves all your details and knows your bill amount already.

 

Apperantely @matchar is correct

 

https://mgronline.com/onlinesection/detail/9660000049697

 

@Crossy That Line ID (PEANext) is indeed an Official PEA account. 

 

See the link, but it's ALL in Thai.

[MJCM]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

Which bank is that.

 

I am with KBank and the PEA and they didn't have that app the last time I looked.

 

@billd766

 

If you pay via the PEA App, you can pay via their App through Online Banking, which supports several Banks (inclu KSK) have a look at this screenshot

 

[Crossy]

34 minutes ago, WDSmart said:

So, who knows what's going to happen? 😦

 

If the meter is actually moving so the reading is going up they may do nothing for ages thinking that you are just on vacation or something.