FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Scammers posing as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. are continuing to target utility customers, prompting PG&E to share tips on how to spot the warning signs and avoid becoming a victim.<\/p>\n
In 2025, PG&E received nearly 24,000 reports from customers who were targeted by scammers impersonating the company. <\/p>\n
Customers lost approximately $301,000 in fraudulent payments, with the average customer losing $590, the company said. <\/p>\n
[RELATED] Scammers target PG&E customers during holiday season surge<\/a><\/p>\n PG&E said the overall number of scam attempts is likely higher because many incidents go unreported.<\/p>\n The most common scam continues to involve callers demanding immediate payment to avoid disconnection. <\/p>\n PG&E also reported an increase in utility impostors coming to the door asking to see a PG&E bill.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you receive a phone call threatening disconnection if you do not make immediate payment, or if someone at your door asks to see your utility bill, hang up, close the door and slam the scam. Then, call our 800 number or log into your account at PGE.com to verify your billing details,\u201d said Matt Foley, lead scam investigator for PG&E.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember, PG&E will never ask you for financial information over the phone or for payment via pre-paid debit cards or money transfer services like Zelle, and we won\u2019t ask to see your bill at your door,\u201d Foley said.<\/p>\n PG&E said small and medium-sized businesses are also being targeted, with scammers focusing efforts during busy business hours and trying to exploit owners\u2019 urgency to keep operations running. The company received nearly 850 reports of scam attempts targeting business customers during 2025.<\/p>\n Cities hit by PG&E scams in 2025Fresno 689Clovis 131Coalinga 6Huron 3Kerman 15Kingsburg 5Mendota 4Sanger 15Selma 3Chowchilla 15Madera 79Atwater 41Gustine 3Merced 88Los Banos 27 Signs of a potential scamThreat to disconnect: Scammers may aggressively demand immediate payment for an alleged past due bill.Asking to see your bill: If someone comes to your home and asks to see your bill, they are not with PG&E.Request for immediate payment via prepaid debit card or money transfer service: Scammers may instruct the customer to purchase a prepaid debit card then call them back supposedly to make a bill payment, or they may ask for payment via a money transfer service like Zelle.Refund or rebate offers: Scammers may say that your utility company overbilled you and owes you a refund, or that you are entitled to a rebate, and then ask you for your banking information.Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n For more information about scams, visit pge.com\/scams<\/a> or consumer.ftc.gov<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Scammers posing as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. are continuing to target utility customers,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-211985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}