Warren Local Falls Victim To Utility Scam

WARREN, NJ — A Warren resident fell victim to a utility scam on Thursday, police report.

The Mount Horeb Road resident reported on Feb. 23 at 9:26 p.m. that he was told his power would be shut off unless an outstanding bill was satisfied. He reported a loss of $2,000.

Don't fall victim to a scam. PSE&G offers these tips to protect yourself from scams, fraud and imposters:

Phone scammers posing as PSE&G employees are targeting customers across our service area. The scam is affecting utilities across the nation.

These scammers are using false phone numbers that could appear on a caller ID to be PSE&G, and a recording of our customer service phone message to make them sound legitimate. They then threaten to shut off service unless a payment is made immediately.

Most often scammers demand payment via a pre-paid credit card that can be purchased at a local store. Sometimes they request payment be made through a money transfer service such as Western Union or MoneyGram. These calls are not from PSE&G. While we do accept credit cards, pre-paid credit cards and money transfers to pay bills, PSE&G would never demand a specific type of payment and threaten immediate service termination.

If a caller directs you to go to a local store to purchase a pre-paid card to pay your bill, it is likely a scam. If you receive a strange call and are in doubt, hang up and call us at the phone number listed on your PSE&G bill.

For more information on utility scams visit https://www.pseg.com/home/cust...

(Image via Shutterstock)

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