Source: The Wall Street Journal

American Water, the nation's largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility company, is advising customers about a nationwide utility bill paying scam.

The scam, which was reported in a number of states, claims that President Barack Obama is providing credits or applying payments to utility bills. Customers are asked to provide their social security numbers to apply for the program. The scammers then give customers a phony bank routing number. Customers are told to provide the routing number to pay their utility bills or to receive a credit on their utility bills. If the routing number is entered during an online transaction, it may appear that the customer's bill has been paid (or that credit has been applied), but no government funds are applied to the customer's account, and the balance remains due. According to reports, the scammers are also emailing, texting, and using social media to reach customers.