SCE Names Top-10 Cities for Reporting Phone Scams, Urges Vigilance During Holiday Season
November 16 2020 - 5:40PM
Business Wire
Southern California Edison is sharing a list of the top-10
cities in its service area for customer-reported utility bill phone
scams. Residents in these cities and others may experience an
increase in scam attempts during the upcoming holiday season. The
warning comes during Utility Scam Awareness Week, Nov. 16-20, a
campaign by Utilities United Against Scams to raise awareness about
the threat posed by scams.
SCE customers report being victimized for nearly $300,000 so far
this year by utility bill phone scams. While these and similar
scams have existed for decades, the COVID-19 pandemic created
widespread opportunities for con artists posing as utility
representatives to target unsuspecting customers observing
stay-at-home precautions. These attempts to steal money, personal
information or both have expanded to include the growing use of
mobile payment applications.
SCE’s top-10 cities for reporting utility phone scams this year
are:
- Fontana
- Hemet
- Huntington Beach
- Irvine
- Long Beach
- Moreno Valley
- Ontario
- San Bernardino
- Santa Ana
- Whittier
“Our customers are doing a great job of reporting attempted
scams to us, so our company can take steps to help shut down the
phone lines these fraudsters use,” says Jill Anderson, SCE’s senior
vice president of Customer Service.
She added, “When the COVID-19 crisis erupted, SCE quickly
suspended service disconnections for nonpayment and waived late
fees by request for residential and small business customers, which
will continue at least until April 2021. We also want our customers
to know that any threat of immediate service disconnection without
payment by someone claiming to be from SCE should be recognized as
a scam attempt.”
Reports from customers to SCE indicate utility bill scams tend
to target the elderly, English learners — or both — and smaller
businesses such as hair salons and auto mechanics, many of which
have been struggling since the pandemic started.
To avoid becoming a victim of a utility bill scam, customers
should know that:
- SCE does not have a “disconnection department.”
- SCE will never demand an immediate payment with the threat of
disconnection.
- SCE does not accept prepaid cash cards or bitcoins for bill
payments.
- SCE will never ask for your credit card or account information
over the phone.
- SCE employees will not demand to collect, or accept, payment in
the field.
Customers who believe they are being or have been targeted by a
utility bill scam should confirm their account balance or payment
status by calling SCE’s customer service center at 1-800-655-4555.
If possible, save information such as callback phone numbers or
payment instructions and report the attempt by calling SCE’s
customer service center, emailing SCE at csinfogov@sce.com or by
completing SCE’s online fraud form.
To learn more about the suspicious behaviors and tactics of
utility bill phone scammers, please visit sce.com/scamalert.
About Southern California Edison
An Edison International (NYSE: EIX) company, Southern California
Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a
population of approximately 15 million via 5 million customer
accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central,
Coastal and Southern California.
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Media Contact: Denise Luu, (626) 302-2255
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