Last week our office sent out the first scam alert through the VT Alert System to warn Vermonters about an active utility disconnection phone scam (listen to the alert here).

This exciting program started three weeks ago when the Attorney General’s Office partnered with Vermont Emergency Management to use their existing “VT Alert” emergency notification system. The system lets you get instant alerts by email, text message, or a phone message. We’ll be using this system to alert Vermonters about scams going around the state. You must sign up to get these alerts.  So far, 677 people have signed up through our website and over 3100 signed up through the VT Alert portal!

We don’t want to send out too many alerts, so we’ll only use the system to let you know about scams that are new, have changed, or are happening most often. We also might send you alerts about scams that are happening in your town or county specifically.

Signing up is free and easy. Call us at 802-656-3183 or 1-800-649-2424 (toll-free from a VT phone). You can also visit our website consumer.vermont.gov and click on “Sign Up for Scam Alerts!”  You can choose to get alerts by text message, email, or a prerecorded telephone message from Attorney General Donovan.

We want to help you stay informed and stay ahead of scammers trying to defraud Vermonters.  Once you sign up for the Scam Alert System, we encourage you to spread the word by sharing the alert message with your friends, family, neighbors, and communities.  Together we can get informed, spread the word, and stop the scams.

Example of an email alert:

Our office would like to extend a special thank you to our partner at the Vermont Department of Pubic Safety, Emergency Management System–and in particular Director Erica Bornemann, Public Information Officer Mark Bosma, and Administrator Randy Bronson.

Contributing Writer: Crystal Baldwin