My phone rang twice on Tuesday, August 5th; at 10:48 a.m. and 12:56 p.m. Caller ID said SAN PEDRO, CA. I know no one in California so I just let it ring without answering. Caller ID seems to be the best defense against these people by not answering calls from numbers or locations you don't know. Both times the phone rang 6 times and stopped.
If it is the "Lower your Utility Bills" scam people, they are using numbers from throughout the country, and many of their alleged locations and phone numbers may be spoofed.
At best this is spam. Do not call unknown callers back, or you might get billed for scam services or long distance fees. Most of these calls are from automated robo-dialers that spoof telephone numbers. They don't answer phones, and they don't care when you call or what you try to say. All you are doing is verifying that a real person has heard the message. I assume that if they ever do find a sucker ... I mean customer, they get a referral fee from your local solar energy company.
Every week I get called from a new long distance number, "The state has determined ... blah blah blah." I use the CPR call blocker available from Amazon, because my telephone company blocks up to only twelve numbers.
If you want to do something, then report to https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
This call is from A1 Solar Power, a solar company based in Van Nuys, California (with six branches throughout the state: San Diego, Costa Mesa, Carpenteria, Petaluma, Concord, and San Jose) or one of its telemarketing fronts. A1 Solar Power’s telemarketing fronts usually spoof both the Caller-ID name and the Caller-ID number or use recently disconnected
numbers. Occasionally, they will spoof the active number of an unsuspecting victim.
The following seven entities appear to be associated with each other:
1) A1 Solar Power, Inc. (Van Nuys, California) – www.a1solarpower.net/