Antelope Valley residents should be wary, during the hectic holiday season when their minds may be filled with festivities, to taken extra care not to be fooled by scammers, who tend to increase their activities during this season, according to Southern California Edison officials.
The surge in scamming activity applies to those targeting SCE customers, officials warn.
This year, more than 6,000 Southern California Edison customers have received scam calls, asking for more than $2.2 million. Of those, 442 customers have paid these scammers nearly $420,000, officials said.
While the types of scams have not changed much, the amount of money customers who fall victim are losing is increasing.
SCE is seeing a surge in fraudulent phone scams claiming to be SCE representatives.
“Our employees never demand immediate payment or ask you to send money through Zelle, Bitcoin or a prepaid credit card to prevent your electricity from being shut off,” Edison officials said.
Common complaints to SCE about scams reveal the phone scams frequently resulted from calls made multiple times per day, made outside of business hours, asked customers about their usage or meter information, provided customers with recommendations for purchasing alternative energy products and asked customers to provide Social Security numbers and other personal…
