Electricity bill scam plauge Thailand - Warning

[george]

WARNING: Be careful!

 

BANGKOK: --There are scam electricity bills getting dropped in letterboxes.

 

If you scan them and pay your money will end up in someone else's account. They should be purple not blue for starters, but to be sure you can just load the PEA app and pay the bill direct from there.

 

Source: FB group Korat

 

-- ASEAN NOW 2024-03-20

[connda]

3 minutes ago, george said:

BANGKOK: --There are scam electricity bills getting dropped in letterboxes.

 

If you scan them and pay your money will end up in someone else's account. They should be purple not blue for starters, but to be sure you can just load the PEA app and pay the bill direct from there.

Simple.  Go to the PEA office and pay your bill -- no scam.
 
"Use you bank application on your phone...it's convenient!"

Ya know.  I've finally reached the point in my life where I simply don't trust "convenient" technology.  Pay cash, pay in person.  Other than that, hopefully the Thai BIB will have some competent investigators to get the the bottom of scam such as these.  Maybe.
 

[stat]

17 minutes ago, connda said:

Simple.  Go to the PEA office and pay your bill -- no scam.
 
"Use you bank application on your phone...it's convenient!"

Ya know.  I've finally reached the point in my life where I simply don't trust "convenient" technology.  Pay cash, pay in person.  Other than that, hopefully the Thai BIB will have some competent investigators to get the the bottom of scam such as these.  Maybe.
 

Great idea: In 2024 I walk somewhere stand in line and waste 3 hours of my life, lost for words...

[JeffersLos]

29 minutes ago, stat said:

Great idea: In 2024 I walk somewhere stand in line and waste 3 hours of my life

 

Don't forget to bring your passport!

 

 

[Tropicalevo]

43 minutes ago, stat said:

Great idea: In 2024 I walk somewhere stand in line and waste 3 hours of my life, lost for words...

It is a great idea.

3 hours or lost money. Up to you.

NB I never spent more than 10 minutes in the local PEA office when I used to pay them.

 

15 minutes ago, JeffersLos said:

Don't forget to bring your passport!

 

Never needed to show a passport when paying any bill. Certainly not in the PEA office.

They will take money off anyone.

[NoDisplayName]

1 hour ago, stat said:

Great idea: In 2024 I walk somewhere stand in line and waste 3 hours of my life, lost for words...

 

Nah, just set up automatic deduction from your bank account.

PEA leaves your bill in the box outside, then pulls the charge from your authorized account.

[mania]

3 hours ago, george said:

There are scam electricity bills getting dropped in letterboxes.

This probably means all their customer data security has been breached.

Because if they have a name/account number etc etc for these scam bills that means they have access.

If not then those who just scan & pay are pretty gullible

[Henk Langeweg]

I had one a few months ago, was easy recognizeble because not having a bar- and QR-code. Landlady took care of it.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, mania said:

If not then those who just scan & pay are pretty gullible

Or elderly.... 

[jacko45k]

7 hours ago, stat said:

Great idea: In 2024 I walk somewhere stand in line and waste 3 hours of my life, lost for words...

Yes, why waste 20 seconds on your phone when I can stand in a stupid queue for an hour after driving all the way to a PEA office... wherever that might be now. The one in the mall vanished. 

Great idea producing a fake bill and QR code and dropping it in letter boxes. Fancy houses with big electric bills should be very lucrative!

Edited March 20 by jacko45k

[BritManToo]

4 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Yes, why waste 20 seconds on your phone when I can stand in a stupid queue for an hour after driving all the way to a PEA office... wherever that might be now. The one in the mall vanished. 

Great idea producing a fake bill and QR code and dropping it in letter boxes. Fancy houses with big electric bills should be very lucrative!

My bank app knows my PEA bill without me doing anything, no need for a bill or any queues.

Just make a payment for the amount that appears.

[KhunBENQ]

We get our bill same day of the month.

Then put it aside.

Next day compare and pay with PEA app and mobile banking and still checking the recipient data.

 

Blind QR code scanning seems to become the new pishing. Sending money without carefully checking data?

Sorry, you better drive to the office.

 

Last year I paid significant amounts to a private hospital scanning the QR code at the cashier.

And believe me I still checked very carefully amount and recipient.

Edited March 20 by KhunBENQ

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

My bank app knows my PEA bill without me doing anything, no need for a bill or any queues.

Just make a payment for the amount that appears.

Yes of course, my bank app does too. I do not use the PEA App.  But I do just scan the QR code on the bill. Up it pops confirming PEA payment... could not be more convenient

[rwill]

Seems it would be simple for police to track down the owners of the fraudulent bank account.

[Shmo]

I had to close 4 popup windows to read this thread. This site is becoming unusable for the pops

[Mike Teavee]

21 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

My bank app knows my PEA bill without me doing anything, no need for a bill or any queues.

Just make a payment for the amount that appears.

For some reason Bangkok Bank doesn't recognise the barcode on a (legit) PEA bill as being valid (worked fine with MEA in Bangkok) so I used to check the amount on the PEA app & transfer the money to GF for her to pay it from her account.... Pain in the ass.

 

Nowadays I just click on Pay PEA (Have it as a favourite on my home screen) on the Kasikornbank app (K+) & it automatically fills in the amount...  Simples. 

 

Edited March 20 by Mike Teavee

[Srikcir]

11 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Yes of course, my bank app does too. I do not use the PEA App.  But I do just scan the QR code on the bill. Up it pops confirming PEA payment... could not be more convenient

Agreed. K+ app includes utilities and mobile providers. 

[Farma]

Might be worth checking if this is a scam or someone's mistaken.

 

There was a senior PEA official on the Thai news (workpoint 23 i recall) yesterday apologising for not notifying they had changed the format and colours of their bills.

[Henryford]

6 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

Nah, just set up automatic deduction from your bank account.

PEA leaves your bill in the box outside, then pulls the charge from your authorized account.

 

That's the worse thing to do, they can just take what they want without you checking it.

[mikebell]

Headline needs attention - plague.

[RobU]

I have tried paying my bill via the PEA app. It won't accept it, using Bangkok Bank. 

[redwood1]

1 hour ago, rwill said:

Seems it would be simple for police to track down the owners of the fraudulent bank account.

 

Very very very very easy....

[Lopburikid]

5 hours ago, mania said:

This probably means all their customer data security has been breached.

Because if they have a name/account number etc etc for these scam bills that means they have access.

If not then those who just scan & pay are pretty gullible

The last 3 months I have been getting 2 bills for the elecy bill, both same date, same amount, same address, but about 5 days apart. Wife has been to the PEA, they just say ignore it. They didn't seem interested in how, why, or who saw behind it!

[Digitalbanana]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

could not be more convenient

Well it could as the poster you were replying to says the app already knows your bill so there's no need to QR code anything.

[gamb00ler]

5 hours ago, mania said:

This probably means all their customer data security has been breached.

Because if they have a name/account number etc etc for these scam bills that means they have access.

If not then those who just scan & pay are pretty gullible

If the crooks were smart, they would just cruise up and down the streets in high end moobaans and scan the power bills the meter reader just deposited in the mail box and produce a replica with just the QR code changed to that of their own account.  Hopefully PEA/MEA have in place a defense against such a scheme.

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, Digitalbanana said:

Well it could as the poster you were replying to says the app already knows your bill so there's no need to QR code anything.

Just another app on my phone that currently I don't seem to need. It may allow me to select which bank to pay from I suppose. 

[spectre324]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Yes, why waste 20 seconds on your phone when I can stand in a stupid queue for an hour after driving all the way to a PEA office... wherever that might be now. The one in the mall vanished. 

Great idea producing a fake bill and QR code and dropping it in letter boxes. Fancy houses with big electric bills should be very lucrative!

where is your sense of "adventure?" you can learn an awful lot standing in "line" especially if you understand Thai! plus you get to see all kinds of interesting people.

 

[topt]

1 hour ago, Farma said:

Might be worth checking if this is a scam or someone's mistaken.

 

There was a senior PEA official on the Thai news (workpoint 23 i recall) yesterday apologising for not notifying they had changed the format and colours of their bills.

Thanks for mentioning that as my PEA bill changed last week. Was a purpleish colour and the latest was more pink. Also they have finally managed to make it smaller by about 40%.

This is in Pattaya.

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, spectre324 said:

where is your sense of "adventure?" you can learn an awful lot standing in "line" especially if you understand Thai! plus you get to see all kinds of interesting people.

 

I used to do it often to pay my TOT bill, never took to it! 

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Yes of course, my bank app does too. I do not use the PEA App.  But I do just scan the QR code on the bill. Up it pops confirming PEA payment... could not be more convenient

Must be a Bangkok problem.

My bills do not have a QR code or barcode, been paying by direct debit for 14 years without a problem.