Bill and Allison are devoted to their dogs, so when they discover their 11-year-old beagle mix Archer missing one evening, they are distraught. They spend hours searching the neighborhood and start putting out alerts online, including their contact information and photos of Archer. Then a late-night call comes in from someone claiming to be from a veterinarian's office. Archer has been hit by a car and needs emergency surgery to prevent him from becoming permanently paralyzed. The surgery will cost $2,746 and needs to be paid before the doctor can start. The scammers even send a convincing photo of Archer on the operating table, but Bill and Allison quickly suspect the photo might be AI-generated.

After escaping the Palisades fire in January of 2025, Ellen doesn't know if she and her husband Steve will have a home to return to. Miraculously, their house is still standing, but it needs extensive cleaning and repairs. They move into an apartment and begin working with insurance and contractors. In March, Steve is diagnosed with cancer and passes away just a few months later. Displaced, stressed out and now grieving her beloved husband, Ellen is caught off guard by a PayPal alert for a charge she doesn't recognize. Soon, the insurance money meant to fix her home is gone.

Fed up with the rising cost of electricity, Steve shops around and switches to a new provider in his Boston neighborhood. The process is simple, and Steve thinks the matter is settled until a week later, when he receives a call from his previous provider claiming he is in danger of having his electricity cut off. Steve initially dismisses it as a scam, but the caller seems to know all about his recent switch. What follows is an hours-long back-and-forth, with Steve passed between agents posing as representatives from two power companies. Frustrated and angry, Steve ultimately buys $900 worth of gift cards in the hope of keeping his electricity flowing. This sophisticated scam is one of a number of scams involving utility companies threatening to cut off basic services. Monica Martinez, the executive director for Utilities United Against Scams, shares tips on how to spot utilities-related scams.

To learn more about utility scams, visit: aarp.org/utilityscams