Pepco is joining more than 100 energy companies across the U.S. and Canada this week to warn customers about increasingly sophisticated utility scams as the holiday season approaches.
The campaign, part of International Fraud Awareness Week running through Monday and Utility Scam Awareness Day on Wednesday, comes as scammers use artificial intelligence and other technologies to make their schemes more convincing.
Fraudulent activity typically spikes during the holidays, and scammers targeting utility customers have become harder to detect, according to the Utilities United Against Scams coalition.
The most common scam involves callers posing as Pepco employees and demanding immediate payment via prepaid debit or credit cards to prevent service disconnection. The impostors often tell customers to buy prepaid cards from nearby convenience stores or pharmacies, then call back to complete the “payment.”
These calls can seem authentic because scammers manipulate caller IDs and replicate utilities’ official voice greetings and hold recordings.
Pepco officials said the company never asks for immediate payment with prepaid cash cards or cryptocurrency, never requests account numbers or personal information such as Social Security numbers or bank statements, and never visits homes or businesses to discuss disconnection without prior contact.
Legitimate Pepco field employees wear uniforms with the company logo, including shirts and safety vests, and display company ID badges with the Pepco logo and their names.
Business customers should review emails from outside their networks carefully, verify that senders’ names and businesses match email addresses, and look for typos or altered images.
Generative AI poses a growing threat by allowing scammers to create realistic content using online data. Customers should watch for deepfakes — digitally manipulated images or videos mimicking real people — voice cloning used to impersonate individuals, and AI-written phishing emails, texts and malware.
Customers who question the legitimacy of a call or visit should contact Pepco at 202-833-7500. Those who believe they were targeted should contact local police and call Pepco immediately.
More information is available at Pepco.com/Scams.