Skip to main content
Edison International Edison International
Energized
  • Home
  • Stories
    • All Stories
    • People
    • Safety
    • Giving Back
    • Technology
    • Environment
    • The Grid
    • Good to Know
    • Spotlight
  • Videos
    • All Videos
    • People
    • Safety
    • Giving Back
    • Technology
    • Environment
    • The Grid
    • Good to Know
  • Connect
      social media
      • View/Upload Photos
      • About Us
  • Newsroom
  • Sign Up
    • All Stories
    • People
    • Safety
    • Giving Back
    • Technology
    • Environment
    • The Grid
    • Good to Know
    • Spotlight
    • All Videos
    • People
    • Safety
    • Giving Back
    • Technology
    • Environment
    • The Grid
    • Good to Know
      social media
      • View/Upload Photos
      • About Us

‘Tis the Season to Avoid Utility Scam Calls

Utility Scam Awareness Day is Nov. 17 and Southern California Edison has tips for customers on ways to stay vigilant, especially during the holidays.
Skip to content
Stories : Safety
Download Photos Download All
ESPAÑOL 한국어 TIẾNG VIỆT 中文
Phone Scammers Use Mobile Payment Apps for Fraud

Phone Scammers Use Mobile Payment Apps for Fraud

Mobile payment services and apps such as Zelle, MoneyPak and others offer users convenience and ease of use. They are also quickly becoming a favorite tool among phone scammers posing as Southern California Edison employees ...
View Story
SCE Upgrades Customer Billing System

SCE Upgrades Customer Billing System

As Southern California Edison switches over to a new billing and customer information system in April, customers may notice a few changes. ...
View Story
SCE Shares Top-10 Cities for Reporting Utility Bill Phone Scams

SCE Shares Top-10 Cities for Reporting Utility Bill Phone Scams

Bruce M. of San Bernardino was suspicious about the voicemail message. It said payment was late on his Southern California Edison bill and his service would be disconnected if he did not call back immediately. ...
View Story
Subscribe
G20-216 Scam Alert Flyer
Phone Scammers Use Mobile Payment Apps for Fraud

Phone Scammers Use Mobile Payment Apps for Fraud

Mobile payment services and apps such as Zelle, MoneyPak and others offer users convenience and ease of use. They are also quickly becoming a favorite tool among phone scammers posing as Southern California Edison employees ...
View Story
SCE Upgrades Customer Billing System

SCE Upgrades Customer Billing System

As Southern California Edison switches over to a new billing and customer information system in April, customers may notice a few changes. ...
View Story
SCE Shares Top-10 Cities for Reporting Utility Bill Phone Scams

SCE Shares Top-10 Cities for Reporting Utility Bill Phone Scams

Bruce M. of San Bernardino was suspicious about the voicemail message. It said payment was late on his Southern California Edison bill and his service would be disconnected if he did not call back immediately. ...
View Story
View Comments
Leave a Comment
  • We welcome your feedback and comments. We ask that you please keep them constructive, civil and respectful. If you wouldn’t say it in front of your mother, then there is a good chance it falls outside of our guidelines. Please read our comment policy here.
Stories : Safety
Download Photos Download All
ESPAÑOL 한국어 TIẾNG VIỆT 中文

‘Tis the Season to Avoid Utility Scam Calls

Utility Scam Awareness Day is Nov. 17 and Southern California Edison has tips for customers on ways to stay vigilant, especially during the holidays.
Ron Gales
Ron Gales
ENERGIZED by Edison Writer
Gabriela Ornelas
Gabriela Ornelas
ENERGIZED by Edison Writer
Published on November 09, 2021
Subscribe

The annual signs of winter holidays are approaching; decorated homes, celebrations with loved ones — and a surge in fraudulent phone calls by scammers who impersonate Southern California Edison employees.

Utility Scam Awareness Day takes place each November just as phone scam activity typically increases, and electricity, water and gas utilities nationwide ramp up their efforts to help customers stop scams during the holiday season.

“Scammers often take advantage of people seeking help to pay their electric bills,” said Randy White, SCE’s manager of Physical Security. “One customer reported callers claiming they work with Edison on a COVID-19 relief program.” If she sent the callers half of what she owed, White said, they would pay the other half. She learned the call was a hoax after she’d sent the scammers $100.

Customer reports to SCE of attempted and successful phone scams are up more than 40% since 2019.
Customer reports to SCE of attempted and successful phone scams are up more than 40% since 2019.

In another case, Sandra Camacho of Long Beach believed her callers were from SCE because “they did everything exactly the way it is when you call [SCE] customer service,” including putting her on hold with background music and then apologizing for the delay.

They told Camacho a technician would arrive in 40 minutes and that she needed to make “an advance payment to stop the disconnection,” she said. She paid several hundred dollars using a bar code number the scammers gave her, which was linked to a prepaid card in their possession.

The next day, the scammers called back demanding she “pay off the rest of the bill.” That’s when she realized the callers weren’t from SCE.

Customer reports to SCE of attempted and successful phone scams rose more than 40% last November and December, compared to the same period in 2019.

So far this year, SCE customers report being defrauded of more than $590,000 — surpassing the $426,000 reported as lost to scammers in all of last year.

Customers targeted by a suspected utility bill scam should confirm their payment status or report the scam by calling SCE at 1-800-655-4555.
Utilities nationwide are ramping up their efforts to help customers stop scams ahead of Utility Scam Awareness Day Nov. 17.

It helps to be skeptical of requests made over the phone. Maribel Melendrez of Perris became suspicious when a caller claiming to be from SCE told her to pay an overdue bill using a mobile payment app, otherwise her power would be shut off in 40 minutes.

Melendrez took down all the information to make the mobile payment, then told the callers she needed to deposit more money in her bank account to cover the bill. They told her, “No, there’s not enough time, send whatever you have in your account.”

Using her other phone line, she contacted SCE and confirmed the call was a scam. At the same time, the scammers “were calling (on the other line) every two minutes,” said Melendrez, “leaving voicemails saying I was taking too long. They called 10 times, no exaggeration,” but when Melendrez called them back, there was no answer.

Customers targeted by a suspected utility bill scam should confirm their payment status or report the scam by calling SCE at 1-800-655-4555, emailing SCE at csinfogov@sce.com or completing SCE’s online fraud form. They should also report the scam attempt to local law enforcement.

Tags: utility scams, public safety
G20-216 Scam Alert Flyer

Connect with us

Edison International

Visit SCE

  • Pay My Bill
  • Report an Outage
  • Turn On/Off Service

Family of Websites

  • SCE.com
  • EdisonEnergy.com
  • energized.edison.com
  • CAREERS
  • PRIVACY NOTICE
  • WEBSITE TERMS OF USE
  • CA Consumer Privacy Act Policy
  • © 2023 Edison International
Edison Energy and its subsidiaries are not the same company as Southern California Edison, the utility, and they are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

Download and Use Policy

This Site is owned by Edison International. Unless otherwise indicated, all of the content featured or displayed on this Site, including but not limited to, text, graphics, data, photographic images, moving images, sound, illustrations, computer code, trade marks and logos and the selection and arrangement thereof (referred to in this section as the "Content") is owned by Edison International, its licensors or its third-party image partners and all rights in relation to the Content are reserved. All Content is protected by copyright, trade dress, moral rights, trade mark rights and other laws relating to the protection of intellectual property. You may use the Content for your personal, or news-related, non-commercial use, but you may not otherwise reproduce, modify or in any way commercially exploit the Content.

Accept   Decline