OAKLAND, Calif. (KERO) — November 16th is Utility Scam Awareness Day, and Pacific Gas & Electric is partnering with Utilities United Against Scams to help customers protect themselves and their money.
During 2022, PG&E received over 23,000 customer reports that they’d been contacted by scammers who were trying to impersonate the utility, and customers have lost nearly $1.3 million dollars to scams. The company says this is an alarming increase over 2021, when there were just over 11,000 reports of scams. PG&E also says this is likely a low number, as many scam attempts go unreported.
Aaron Johnson, PG&E Bay Area regional vice president reminds customers that the utility will never ask for a customer’s financial information over the phone, never become threatening or hostile with a customer, and will never request payment via online cash transfer apps or gift cards.
“Avoiding a scam is as simple as hanging up the phone,” Johnson said in a statement from PG&E. “If you ever receive a call threatening disconnection if you do not make immediately payment, simply hang up and either call PG&E to confirm your account details or log onto your account on PGE.com.”
According to PG&E, scammers are opportunistic. They will wait for times when they think customers are likely to be distracted, tired, or stressed, and the holiday season provides them with a prime opportunity.
Utilities United Against Scams Chair Bud Ajdukovic says utility companies will continue to fight against…
