Christmastime Phone Scammers Claim to be SCE, Threaten to Disconnect Power

Imagine answering your phone and hearing a caller say they were from Southern California Edison and you must pay $500 by noon or your power would be disconnected. What would you do?

Phone scammers are "spoofing" SCE's phone number, claiming to be from SCE's "disconnection department" (SCE has no such department), and demanding payments within a few hours or else power will be cut off.

More than 8,800 scam attempts have been reported to Southern California Edison this year, with customers suffering more than $478,000 in losses.

Unfortunately, too many utility customers – often small businesses – fall prey to this scam every day. More than 8,800 scam attempts have been reported to SCE this year, with customers suffering more than $478,000 in losses.

This week, more than 150 utilities across North America are uniting for National Utility Scam Awareness Week to educate customers and prevent them from losing their hard-earned money.

Remember these tips to avoid being scammed:

SCE will never call to demand immediate payment with the threat of service disconnection.

SCE does not accept prepaid cash cards for bill payments.

SCE does not have a disconnection department.

An SCE employee will never ask for cash in person.

SCE does not conduct credit transactions on weekends or holidays.

Additional scams to watch out for:

If someone calls and asks you to leave your residence at a specific time for a “utility-related” cause, call the police. This could be a burglary attempt set up by the caller.

SCE does not send solar representatives to customers’ homes or businesses, nor does SCE have solar companies contact customers by phone.

Find more ways to stay safe and protect yourself against scams: on.sce.com/ScamAlert.