 Scammers are now using search engine ads to defraud utility customers. Monica Martinez, the executive director of Utilities United Against Scams, describes the scam and how to avoid it. Fraudsters pay for search engine ads that appear to sponsor a utility's website. Sometimes the ad will show the actual website, while other times it's a phony website with a misleading address. But in both cases, a scammer puts a fake phone number in the ad. So when someone searches for the utility's contact information, the fake phone number appears in the results.