If this is a scam it is pretty convincing. Someone identifying herself as “Mrs. Gardner” says there are important matters we need to discuss concerning supply charges for my Con Edison account. She does not use my name nor does say she is from Con Edison, and the phone number she says I should call her back at does not appear in any meaningful way on that Internet thing.
I logged in to my ConEd.com account and found that the phone number Con Edison has on file for me is from a corporate job I had 20 years ago. That is not the number “Mrs. Gardner” called. She called my old landline number that I had ported over to magicJack.
I suspect this is a green energy scam, or some sort of guerrilla marketing for another kind of alternative energy supplier. She left a reference number, and requested that I have a copy of a recent Con Edison statement available when I return her call. This would be a perfect setup for someone to talk an unsuspecting individual into switching from Con Edison to green energy, or some other Con Edison “alternative”.
I called 347-897-5925 (from Skype) and heard some piano music, then a woman’s voice came over the line asking for my reference number. I hung up. Good-bye. I called from Skype because it sends fake CallerID information to whoever I call.
The call from “Mrs. Gardner” call sorta kinda had me going because my ConEd bill has been high of late, but that’s on account of me running the A/C and keeping three computers and a piano plugged in and turned on 24/7.
UPDATE OCTOBER 4 2018
I was reminded of this strange call today, and remembered that I had intended to call the number after hours, to see if any identifying information about who was behind these calls would be revealed. This neither confirms nor refutes anything, but the overnight voicemail greeting leaves no clue about who you are calling or what entity you are dealing with. You would think that a Con Edison number would be manned 24/7. Here is the message I heard when calling 347-897-5925 at about 10:30pm on a weeknight:
