Georgia

Georgia Power cautions customers on common utility scams

Published

1 year ago

November 26, 2024

Georgia Power cautions customers on common utility scams

In observance of National Utility Scam Awareness Day, Georgia Power is warning customers about the increasing prevalence of digital and mobile scams, including fraudulent payment requests through platforms like Cash App and fake digital ads, and urging them to report suspicious activity at www.GeorgiaPower.com/ReportAScam.

In light of the recent National Utility Scam Awareness Day, Georgia Power is highlighting scams that are targeting customers around the state. With evolving technology, scam attempts have become more digital and mobile-based though traditional telephone scams are still prevalent as well.

Customers are encouraged to report scams at www.GeorgiaPower.com/ReportAScam.

Tech SCAM – Georgia Power Payment Through Cash App

The company continues to hear of scammers requesting funds from customers via mobile and online means like Cash App, asking customers to pay an account that “looks like” Georgia Power, including illegal use of the company’s logo. Georgia Power does not accept payments via Cash App. Valid Georgia Power payment options include Venmo, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal – learn more here.

Tech SCAM – Fake Digital Ads

Georgia Power is receiving reports of digital ads on Google and other platforms that direct customers to non-company websites to pay their bills, which then request personal or financial information. Customers should always ensure that the webpage is the official Georgia Power website, with correct spelling: www.GeorgiaPower.com. Don’t be fooled by ads that lead to fake websites.

Georgia Power works every day to combat new and existing scams and continues to partner with law enforcement and other agencies in supporting their efforts to identify and prosecute criminals who pose as Georgia Power employees to defraud customers. The company reminds customers of the following additional tips and guidelines to avoid becoming a victim of a scammer:

Georgia Power: 

Does not call to ask a customer to provide a credit card or pre-paid debit card number over the phone.

Does not accept cryptocurrency as a payment option. Scammers often demand Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, or demand use of money transfer apps for immediate payments.

Does not call customers to set up automatic payments, to “update” credit cards or other sensitive account information or to ask customers to “pay for a new meter.”

The company also does not send employees into the field to collect payment in person or to pay anywhere other than an Authorized Payment Location (APL).

Tips to #StopScams: 

If a customer receives a suspicious call from someone claiming to be from Georgia Power and demanding immediate payment to avoid disconnection, the customer should hang up and log-on to their account at www.GeorgiaPower.com to confirm the status of their account.

As scammers have tried to promote the use of fraudulent 800 numbers, customers should direct-dial the company’s customer service line using the number on their bill (888-660-5890), which can be verified at www.GeorgiaPower.com/ContactUs. Do not trust “Caller ID” identifications.

Delete all emails that demand immediate payment or personal information or that are from a company that is not Georgia Power.

If an account becomes past due, Georgia Power will contact the customer via a pre-recorded message to the primary account telephone number or by letter requesting that the customer call the number on their bill to discuss the account. Georgia Power’s pre-recorded message will not ask customers to remain on the line or press a number to speak to a representative immediately.

In the rare event that an employee needs to visit a customer’s home or business for a service-related issue, they will be in uniform and present a badge with a photo, their name and the company’s name and logo. They will also be in a vehicle marked with the company’s logo.

To learn more about how you can defend yourself against scammers and avoid falling victim to common mistakes, additional information is available at www.GeorgiaPower.com/Scams.

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Georgia

Georgia gubernatorial candidate echoes MS’s late-Gov. Kirk Fordice

Published

4 hours ago

May 12, 2026

Press Room

Georgia gubernatorial candidate echoes MS’s late-Gov. Kirk Fordice

Mac Gordon
| Special to the Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Billionaire businessman Rick Jackson is running for governor of Georgia, drawing comparisons to former Mississippi Governor Kirk Fordice.
Jackson, a self-funded candidate, has risen in the polls against established politicians in the Republican primary.
His campaign ads feature strong rhetoric on immigration and align him with former President Donald Trump.
The Republican primary field also includes Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.

Kirk Fordice-like Rick Jackson is sounding a whole lot like Daniel Kirkwood Fordice as he tries to be elected Georgia’s next governor.

Fordice came out of nowhere — actually, Vicksburg is somewhere but you know what I mean — in 1991 to become a two-term Mississippi governor.

He had money but nothing like Jackson, a billionaire businessman who’s also trying to emerge from nowhere politically to win Georgia’s top office.

“The establishment hated Trump, because they couldn’t control him. They are going to hate me,” Jackson says in an ad for Georgia’s Republican Primary on May 19, sounding like one of my favorite Mississippi governors — Fordice, because of his unpredictable personality (he could vilify or charm you, all in one sentence), not his politics. He died in 2004 of cancer.

I stood by a cafe entrance one morning, waiting to cover a Fordice speech. When he appeared, I stuck out my hand to shake his. “I’m not shaking your damn hand. You’re part of the problem down there (referring to the newspaper),” he told me, smiling and moving on.

Jackson rose to become one of economic giant-Georgia’s wealthiest people. He came from Atlanta’s rough midtown area, ending up in the foster care system. He left college due to poor financial circumstances.

The 71-year-old Jackson wormed his way into the dynamic city’s business scene in the late 1970s, mostly of the healthcare variety with mixed success before starting a workforce staffing and services company and later an antibiotics manufacturing plant. He turned those businesses into billion-dollar enterprises.

“It’s God’s money,” he said in rural Blakely, and he’s been charitable with it.

Jackson doesn’t try to hide his vast wealth. His family lives in a 48,000-square-foot mansion at Cumming, a place of nearly 100,000 people near Atlanta in Forsyth County, which once promoted its almost all-white population as a virtue.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Bill Torpy recently wrote that Jackson will spend a ton of his own money in seeking another mansion, the one occupied by Georgia’s governor. Torpy noted that present Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was once heavily favored to win the primary race, but he’s fallen behind Jackson’s bold money bid.

“The one-time front-runner in the Republican primary (Jones) has been relegated to No. 2, the result of a $100 million Mack truck running him over.

Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare tycoon, a man with a sly smile and reptilian gaze, is the guy driving that truck,” Torpy wrote.

The GOP field includes Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, who spurned Trump’s demand to find 11,780 votes that would’ve allowed him to win Georgia in 2020.

Fordice was effective with some bombastic rhetoric during his run for governor, but I don’t remember it reaching the histrionic level employed by Jackson. In a major ad blitz, often referencing (Georgia college student) Laken Riley’s murderer, Jackson promises that unauthorized immigrants committing violent crimes will be “deported or departed … any questions?”

In another ad, Jackson growled, “Like President Trump, I don’t owe anybody anything, and like you, I’m sick of career politicians.”

Fordice spent only $1 million to get himself elected Mississippi’s governor. He somewhat sneaked up on the establishment, riding no escalator to the first floor of his Vicksburg concrete river mats-contracting office to declare his intentions. Who could ever forget his announcement seeking the governorship that ran on page 5 of the Clarion Ledger?

Recent polling ahead of Georgia’s May primaries for governor shows the eventual Republican nominee faces a strong Democrat in the November general election, most likely former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. That’ll require another whole pot of money.

— Mac Gordon, a native of McComb, is a retired Mississippi newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.

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Georgia

Georgia Democrats seek answers from Justice Department over Fulton election worker subpoena

Published

16 hours ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

Georgia Democrats seek answers from Justice Department over Fulton election worker subpoena

Four Democrats in Georgia’s congressional delegation sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice Friday protesting the agency’s demand for personal information about Fulton County workers and volunteers involved with the 2020 election when President Donald Trump was defeated by Joe Biden.

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