BGE has noticed an uptick in coronavirus-related phone scams in recent weeks as fraudsters attempt to exploit the pandemic by tricking struggling customers into making illegitimate payments.
The utility company warns customers that if they get a phone call threatening to disconnect their service, they should hang up and report the incident to law enforcement.
“It is so disheartening that these scammers continue to use this time of health and financial uncertainty to attempt to deceive our customers,” said Chima Chijioke, BGE vice president of customer operations. “These scammers are constantly changing their tactics and it’s important that our customers are made aware of these latest efforts in order to stay vigilant to avoid becoming victims.
“We also want to remind customers that disconnection is a last resort, and we want to help customers who may be behind,” Chijioke said. “Any customer who is experiencing a hardship or difficulty with their bill should call BGE immediately at 1-800-685-0123.”
The most prevalent scam is robocalls asking customers to pay immediately in order to avoid disconnection, BGE said.
“BGE will never send a single notification to a customer within one hour of a service interruption and will never ask customers to make payments with a prepaid debit card, gift card, or any form of cryptocurrency,” the company said.
