Foreign female calling to see if I qualify for a program and wanted to know my "exact" utility bill. Call showed Contra Costa County area code (925).... When I asked where she was calling from she became confused and eventually said California. I pressed for a more exact location and she said LA.
I live in SoCal but have a SF Bay Area phone number, so I know that when I see a bay area phone number that it is usually a scam. I picked up and the woman asked for Ms. _____ and had my correct last night. I identified myself as that person and she proceeded to say "I don't know if you remember me but someone called you a few months back about your electric bill." I did in fact get an automated call from my electric company a couple weeks ago about lowering my bill and getting a return call, so I said, "Well, I got an automated call a few weeks ago." She sad, "No, this was a person. I don't know if you remember but they called and spoke to you about lowering your PG&E bill." I said very sternly, "I LIVE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND MY ELECTRIC PROVIDER IS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON." She paused and stuttered a reply, "...Ed..Ed.. Edison?" "YES" I answered. "Oh well, ... someone called this number a couple months ago and talked about your electric bill, it's about ... $70 a month?" Me: "NO ONE EVER CALLED THIS NUMBER AND SPOKE TO ME ABOUT AN ELECTRIC BILL." The lady on the other end of the phone kept trying, "Is this Cheryl?" That's when I knew this was utter absolute BS. Cheryl is my mother's name, pays my cell bill, and would never in a million years be answering my cell phone, let alone using my number as the primary contact to pay her bills. I say, "THAT IS MY MOTHER. THERE IS NO WAY MY MOTHER EVER WOULD BE USING THIS PHONE NUMBER TO DISCUSS HER ELECTRIC BILL", and then they hung up on me. I tried to call back but my number was blocked/it was disconnected.