'Please be aware': Kamin warns Houstonians of power disruption phone scam

Natural disasters bring out the best in a community, and unfortunately, the worst, as revealed in a phone scam that recently targeted CenterPoint customers who lost power during Hurricane Nicholas.

Following the storm, Houston City Councilwoman Abbie Kamin warned Houstonians to the act of fraud.

"Please be aware scammer calling residents pretending to be @CenterPoint claiming you have to pay, or they’ll cut power in 45 minutes,” Kamin tweeted on Sept. 15. “THIS IS NOT CENTERPOINT. This is a heartless P.O.S. trying taking advantage of Houstonians in an ongoing recovery effort."

Nicholas came ashore as a Category One hurricane, bringing with it heavy rain and wind throughout the Greater Houston area.

After pummeling the Texas coast, Nicholas downgraded to a tropical storm and proceeded to head toward Louisiana.

Any flooding fears triggered by the storm's approach were unfounded as Nicholas lashed the region with its winds, which caused power lines to temporarily fail and plunge thousands into darkness.

Click2Houston reported that while CenterPoint worked toward restoring power to several neighborhoods on Sept. 14, the Houston Health Department operated four multi-service centers to allow residents to charge their phones or other electronic devices.

The station additionally reported that Comcast offered its Xfinity hotspots in the Houston area for people to use while their Wi-Fi was temporarily unavailable.

CenterPoint initially predicted a worst-case scenario in which those who lose power won't get it restored until a week later, ABC13 reported.

CenterPoint managed to dwindle the number of those without services to around 40,000 by the end of Sept. 15.

Clear Lake resident Catherine Lennington told Click2Houston that she received a call from scammers pretending to be with CenterPoint demanding payment two days after the hurricane.

“It was kind of scary because it was so specific,” she said. “It said if I didn’t pay immediately, they would turn off my power within 45 minutes and they said press 1 to make the payment now.”

The station reported that Lennington brought the matter to CenterPoint’s attention.

Company officials said CenterPoint is a transmission and distribution delivery company that doesn’t directly bill customers for their electric service.