Winnipegger warns others about highly elaborate Manitoba Hydro missed payments scam

A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.

Destiny Funk said people pretending to work for Manitoba Hydro attempted to lure her into making a deposit on a bitcoin machine by using a lot of personal information and elaborate theatrics to make everything seem "very realistic."

On Monday afternoon, the 26-year-old received a call by someone claiming to be a Hydro technician, telling her they had a work order to cut her power within the hour due to unpaid bills.

Funk said the person had her name and address, and that it all seemed very legitimate.

"Money's been coming out of my account every single month," Funk told the man. "The — quote — 'technician' was like, … 'I'm just the tech.… You're going to want to contact them directly.'"

Funk said the man — who called from a 1-800 number — then gave her another number for Hydro, and even a work order serial number to provide to an agent.

"The greeting message says, 'Welcome to Manitoba Hydro Business Centre. Please press 1 for this, please press 2 for billing,'" Funk said.

"I get connected within like 30 seconds after listening to hold music and everything."

'Completely fake'

Funk said she then got on the line with a man claiming to be a Hydro agent named John. John told her she was two months behind on payments, and asked her for transaction numbers to see if she had paid already.

When Funk offered to send him a screenshot instead, John told her he would have to open a ticket and follow up the next day. The man said there was nothing he could do to stop the work order.

"I'm not going a whole day without power," Funk told him. "He's like, 'Well, the only thing you can do in this situation then is pay the balance.'"

The woman said that at no point did John ask her to pay over the phone, which she said would have been an immediate red flag.

Instead, he told her to go to Hydro headquarters to solve the issue in person. When Funk said she couldn't, John suggested she go to an "authorized dealer."

The man listed some locations, including a nearby convenience store on Elizabeth Road. He told Funk there was a kiosk inside where she could pay, but that it only took cash.

Funk said that's when her alarm bells went off. She told John she would go to headquarters instead. Once she got to the office, an actual Hydro employee told her it was all "completely fake."

"They had the last four digits of my account number … they had my email address, my home address, clearly my phone number," Funk said, as well as the correct amounts of what she would have owed if she hadn't paid.

"This is like the craziest, most elaborate [scam] I have ever experienced." 

Funk said people told her the stores John had mentioned all had bitcoin kiosks after she posted about it on social media. She said she believes she was being lured to make the payment there.

Windsor Park Convenience — the store where Funk was asked to pay — warned customers about the scam on social media, saying their business is not involved.

Hydro aware of scam

Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Peter Chura said in an emailed statement Wednesday the utility is aware of the scam.

He warned customers may currently be more vulnerable to similar schemes because of the Canada Post strike, which is preventing customers from receiving their paper bills.

The spokesperson said Hydro does not make one-time, last-minute threats to disconnect anyone's power — and that it does not accept credit card, Interac e-transfers, cryptocurrency or phone payments.

He said that while anyone can pay their bills at certain businesses, customers should call Hydro or check their website to confirm locations.

Manitoba Hydro posted publicly on X, formerly Twitter, Wednesday afternoon as well, saying the utility heard reports of a scam, and customers should contact Hydro directly if they receive a suspicious call.

Funk said that while she didn't end up falling for it, others may not be as lucky.

"I didn't really lose anything other than just an annoying hour of my time. But there are a lot of people that would fall for this and, I feel especially, older people," she said, adding that it's still unclear how the scammers managed to get all her information.

"I hate to even admit this, but had they asked potentially for my credit card information … with how much personal detail and everything they had on me, I think I actually might have given it," she said.

Chura said anyone who receives a similar demands for immediate payment to "hang up the call, ignore the message, or shut the door."