Long Beach Tops Southern California Edison's List of Residents Targeted by Fake Billing Calls

Southern California Edison customers filed more than 4,200 reports of fraudulent billing calls between January and July 2022, and residents of Long Beach and San Bernardino accounted for the largest numbers, the utility said.

Through July, about 170 Long Beach residents contacted SCE after receiving calls from people posing as company employees. In San Bernardino, 128 customers reported such calls. Fifteen Long Beach residents paid scammers a combined total of nearly $12,000, while San Bernardino victims handed over nearly $5,600.

SCE spokesperson Ron Gales said the callers are skilled at imitating utility staff and use several techniques to seem genuine and to catch people off guard. The most common approach involves claiming to be from SCE and telling a household or small business that its account is overdue, then warning that a technician is on the way to shut off power unless payment is made. Caller ID may even display "Southern California Edison."

"We will never call to threaten a disconnect," Gales said. "Customers or businesses will always receive at least one notice in the mail before disconnecting."

Some scammers go further, playing the same hold music SCE uses after telling victims they are being transferred to a manager. Gales said the callers are "hoping to catch you when you're busy or caught up in the commotion of the day and more willing to comply." Seniors and non-English speakers are the customers most likely to fall for the ruse.

Payment demands are typically between $300 and $800 and are made through a cash app such as Zelle or through prepaid gift cards. One customer in San Fernando lost $18,000 this year, according to SCE. Gales said scammers often claim a payment did not go through and keep asking for more until the victim realizes what is happening. Once money has been sent by those methods, he said, tracing or recovering it is nearly impossible.

Officials had worried about small businesses in particular after SCE's pandemic-era moratorium on disconnections for late payment ended in July, since a threat to cut power could seem more credible and damaging. Even with disconnections on hold, though, customers throughout SCE's service area reported losing more than $279,198 in the first seven months of the year. More than half of that was sent through mobile cash apps.

SCE regularly mails flyers, notices and letters explaining how to tell a real employee from a scam caller. Gales said the company has no disconnections department, never accepts prepaid gift cards or bitcoin, and will never ask for a credit card number, Social Security number or driver's license over the phone.

Customers who have been targeted by a billing scam can reach SCE's customer support line at 800-990-7788 or email csinfogov@sce.com.

The Southern California cities with the most reported scam calls were Long Beach (170 calls, $11,758.44 lost), San Bernardino (128, $5,588.30), Santa Ana (124, $11,084.33), Irvine (86, $1,006.88), Fontana (82, $7,702.67), Apple Valley (72, $4,112.98), Whittier (72, $2,248.00), Victorville (69, $5,697.41), Los Angeles (65, $6,365.48) and Huntington Beach (64, $17,828.84).