Some man called my business and told my employee our electricity would be shut off at 6 pm if we did not pay the outstanding balance. My employee gave me the message and I called the number she gave me. No one picked up, so I hung up. Then called PG&E and found out our account was in perfect standing. The caller was a scam. After I hung up with PG&E, the caller called me back. I asked him what this was regarding and he said my electricity bill. I told him I called PG&E myself and told him my account was in good standing. The [***] hung up.
I received a call to my residence, about cutting off my electricity. I pay my bill with automatic payments and get email updates from my electric company so I thought this was odd. When I called back the person didn't even speak English, so he said hold on. Apparently non of the scammers spoke English so he hung up. When I called back an answering machine picked up for me to leave a message, stating "You have reached the Electricity Disconnect Department.........
It's total [***], they want you to send them money via Money Gram because they are trying to Scam Americans. Don't ever fall for anyone requesting money without you verifying who they really are.
These callers, Carlos Rosario and David Williams, claim to work for FPL. They called my 97 year old mother to tell her she had to pay them $250 or they would cut off her electricity. From researching the internet, this has been going on for a while.
This scam has been going on for at least two decades.
Back in the late 80's, my late Mother (who was NOBODY'S fool), received a phone call from a scamster claiming to work for the local power company, was "up on a power pole and was going to turn off her electricity if she did not fork over an unspecified amount of money NOW. When she demanded to speak to the scamster's supervisor, they hung up in her ear. When she called the utility company and told them what happened, they said they had numerous complaints of scamsters who had been run out of one state and into ours attempting to scam the elderly.
This woman who defrauded the elderly will be spending the next twenty years of her life behind bars:
The woman who defrauded senior citizens out of thousands of dollars under the alias “Georgia Powers” was sentenced Friday to 43 years in prison.
A DeKalb County jury earlier this month found Santee Roberts, 36, guilty of violating Georiga’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, identity fraud, financial transaction fraud and elder exploitation.
According to prosecutors, Roberts identified herself as a Georgia Power representative to 86 DeKalb residents, with a significant number being over 65 years old.
DeKalb District Attorney Robert James said in an e-mail that Roberts “purchased a cell phone and registered it under the alias ‘Georgia Powers’ and began targeting seniors.”
“When a victim would check the caller ID, it would read similar to the local power company,” James said.
Roberts, who has never worked for Georgia Power, would then demand payment for utility services and threaten to interrupt the victim’s electricity if the victim didn’t comply, according to James.
Roberts was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson to 43 years, with 20 years to be served behind bars.
" Jose Martinez from the electricity company" called my 72 yr old Spanish speaking (knows some English) mother on this number saying that she was 3 months late for her electricity bill and that she must pay now otherwise the technicians that were on the way were going to disconnect the power at her home.
My mother is crazy like a fox. She told him she would call them back and instead she called Duke Power. They let her know that her account is current and that the caller was a scammer. She gave them the number which has been reported to the FBI scam database.
It is infuriating how these criminals prey on the most vulnerable in society. Disgusting.