Media Relations Public Service Electric and Gas Company
PSE&G Issues Scam Alert
PSE&G phone number spoofed by scammers
(NEWARK,
N.J. – Aug. 9, 2019) Public Service Electric & Gas is warning New
Jersey residents that scammers have spoofed one of its phone numbers in
attempts to obtain personal information.
On Thursday, PSE&G started receiving a small number of inquiries,
with calls escalating during business hours today. Many of the callers
were returning missed calls that appear to have been made from a
PSE&G phone number.
“If
you receive an unexpected call from PSE&G in the next few days,
particularly if you are not a PSE&G customer, we encourage you to
hang up as it may be a scammer,” said Fred Daum,
PSE&G’s executive director of customer operations. “If you have
pending business with us, such as an appointment or collection notice,
call us back on the number provided on your bill or call our customer
service line, 800-436-PSEG (7734) or contact us on our
website through MyAccount.”
When
a scammer pretends to work for PSE&G, they will often request
personal data such as credit card information or account passwords. No
one should give out this type of personal information.
When a customer calls PSE&G to conduct account business, PSE&G
has numerous secure methods for verifying customer information.
Callers
reported that today’s scammers have asked for personal information to
conduct a meter reading or to add discounts on the PSE&G bill, or
for information related to debit and credit
cards on file. Such tactics are known utility scams,
the most popular of which is a demand for immediate payment to avoid
service termination. Before terminating service, PSE&G alerts
customers in a number of ways: messages on their bill, letters and phone
calls. PSE&G would never demand a specific type of
payment nor threaten immediate service termination. While there are
many ways to pay a PSE&G bill, the utility only accepts credit card
and prepaid card payments through Western Union Speedpay, which charges a $3.95 processing fee.
Report
all scam attempts by calling your utility and local police department,
and file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov/complaint.
More information about scams is available at www.utilitiesunited.org
and www.pseg.com/home/customer_service/bill/scam/index.jsp.
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PSE&G
Public
Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G) is New Jersey’s oldest and
largest gas and electric delivery public utility, serving nearly
three-quarters of the state’s population. PSE&G
is the winner of the ReliabilityOne Award for superior electric system
reliability as well as the 2018 Outstanding Customer Reliability
Experience Award. PSE&G
is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG)
(NYSE:PEG), a diversified energy company. PSEG has been named to the Dow
Jones Sustainability Index for North America for 11 consecutive years.
Click here
to visit the PSE&G website and here
to visit the PSE&G blog.