PG&E officials are alerting customers of a phone scam that appears to be targeting business owners.
Karen Shapiro owns a sandwich shop on Fresno and Ashlan and is used to paying large power bills for her business.
When she got a phone call from a man who said he was with PG&E, it didn’t seem out of the ordinary…except he said she owned money.
He warned her that service would be disconnected unless she made an immediate payment.
“But I paid the bill, so I got my husband on the line, I said Don ask him the account number.” -Karen Shapiro
When the phoney PG&E man couldn’t tell her the account number, that’s when they hung up and called PG&E’s hotline for themselves.
Spokesperson Denny Boyles says PG&E always sends out a series of notices to warn a customers their bill is due, and their payment system is automated.
“So even when you call and say you want to pay, they’ll tell you I have to transfer you and they’ll transfer you to an automated system so the person over the phone isn’t taking your credit card information.” Denny Boyles, PG&E Spokesperson.
Boyles says they are seeing more scams involving PG&E.
To report a scam call the hotline 1-800-743-5000.
