Utility companies across the country are warning customers that callers promising federal stimulus money to pay electric utility or water bills are scammers trying to trick home owners into giving out their personal financial information.

The scam artists even provide a bank routing number that supposedly has an account with funds to pay past due bills.

However, there is no such program and you should never give personal information to anyone who is not an authorized utility company agent.

The North Carolina Attorney General issued a warning about the scam in late June, a gas company in Missouri has seen it, and utilities in Florida, New York, and Georgia have also reported a similar effort.

According to Better Business Bureau reports, scammers have visited customers in person, posted fliers, and used social media and texting to send messages claiming that President Obama will provide a credit or directly pay utility bills.

Utility employees always carry proper identification and never ask customers for personal information such as social security numbers.