Scam callers steal $300,000 from California utility customers, company says

First, a supposed Southern California Edison caller told Gordon Broney that he owed a $500 deposit on a new electrical meter by prepaid debit card, The Press-Enterprise reported.

Then the callers told the 68-year-old business owner from Rancho Cucamonga that he needed to pay another $1,000 for deposits on two more meters, according to the publication. But when they called back for more money, Broney contacted the utility.

It was all a scam, one that the company says has raked in $300,000 from more than 400 customers, The Press-Enterprise reported. The scammers mostly target older people, non-English speakers and small businesses.

“I wasn’t smart this week,” said Broney, who said he paid because he feared losing power at his multiple businesses, according to the publication. “I can’t believe I fell for this.”

Phone scammers pretending to be from Southern California Edison, sometimes with fake caller IDs, have targeted more than 13,000 customers in recent years, KABC reported.

The callers typically demand customers immediately make supposedly overdue payments by prepaid debit card to prevent an imminent power shut-off, according to the station.

More recently, the bogus callers have threatened to send police to homes or businesses if payments aren’t made promptly, KABC reported.

Southern California Edison does not accept prepaid debit cards for payment and never calls to demand immediate payment with a threat of disconnecting power, the company says. It always sends multiple notices of overdue payments.

And the company never conducts credit transactions on weekends or holidays, according to a page on its site about scams.

Employees always wear photo ID, drive marked vehicles and wear a company uniform in the field, Southern California Edison says. They never ask for cash payments in person.

If you think you’ve been contacted by a scammer, the company offers these safety tips:

• Never reveal personal information, including your utility account number.
• Never use the call-back number to verify your account information.
• Ask for the caller’s name, department and business phone number. Southern California Edison does not have a disconnections department.
• End the call and contact your local law enforcement agency. Also call Southern California Edison at 1-800-990-7788 for business customers or 1-800-655-4555 for residential customers. Numbers for non-English speakers are listed here.

Southern California Edison serves 15 million people in a 50,000-square-mile area of Southern, Central and coastal California, according to its site.

This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 10:45 AM with the headline "Scam callers steal $300,000 from California utility customers, company says."