Posted on 04/06/2022 3:07:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Pacific Gas and Electric Company is sending a warning about scammers who have already taken tens of thousands of dollars from customers through phone calls.
The calls, which look like they’re coming directly from the utility company, warn that a customer's power could be shut off in a matter of minutes unless they pay immediately.
“Scammers are very convincing,” PG&E spokesperson Mayra Tostado said. “Their technology allows them to spoof customers. They’ll use numbers that are identical to PG&E.”
The utility company said more than a thousand customers were scammed like this, in January alone, bilking them of more than $65,000.
The utility believes the crooks are not only after money, but also personal information so they can steal the customer's tax refund as well.
“We never threaten to disconnect your service, and we will never demand immediate payment,” Tostado said.
PG&E said customers who fall behind are instead put on a monthly payment plan they can afford. They said that option became especially popular during the pandemic when a growing number of customers couldn’t afford the full payment.
People said the calls and emails aren't limited to PG&E.
“I’ve gotten Netflix and a couple others, but instead of clicking those links, I call the companies that I do business with: ‘Did you send me a link?’” customer Mary Segura said.
PG&E said it is working with the FBI to try to track down those responsible, and they say anyone can be a target, including NBC Bay Area's Damian Trujillo. He got one of those calls and was connected to a live person, but the moment he told them that he was recording the call, they immediately hung up.
“Do not fall for it. It’s a scammer,” Tostado said.
I’m pretty sure I got this, but I haven’t lived in California for over a year.
I got a call from a fellow who said he was from Eversource, and my electricity would be cut off immediately if I don’t pay.
Unfortunately for him, I’m served by United Illuminating.
PG&E needs to develop an app to create a local power outage wherever Gov. Newsome happens to be at the moment.
“NO Power for YOU!”
This has been going on constantly for several years now. Definitely WAY before Covid
With so many automated scam calls it has to be making people immune to them. I’ve had a few claiming to be raising money for the police. Since I don’t know if they are legit or not I still hang up.
If I get a phone call or text message from anybody I don’t know, I refuse to answer. They could be scamming me, so why take that chance?
I can't believe the phone companies (land & cell) haven't been able to stop that tech.
It's only been decades so maybe not enough time.
I've even been called by my own number before.
I've had that happen before. "Why do I want to talk to that jerk?"
Fortunately I receive very few calls from people I don’t know. If Caller Id doesn’t show me who’s calling (means they’re not in my contacts file), I don’t answer the call. If it’s important, they can leave me a voice mail and I’ll call them back. As a result of this I receive very few spam calls.
Duke Energy customers were targeted by a simliar scam some time back.
I got a call saying ‘your bill is overdue and a crew is on their way to your home to turn off your power.’
I told the person my bill was paid and he said they couldn’t help me - (and here’s the brilliant part of the scam) — the man says, “we can’t help you - you need to call Duke Energy”...
Then he said, “DO YOU NEED THE PHONE NUMBER?”
Luckily I had the number and told him no I didn’t need the number. I call Duke and they explained the scam and said I was lucky I didn’t take the fake phone number from them. Lots of people feel for the scam because they were calling Duke...
I got this call some months ago.
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