Attorney General Alan Wilson, electric cooperatives and other utilities issued another warning about scammers
who try to get money from utility customers. In a Thursday afternoon news conference, Wilson called the scammers “devils appearing as an angel of light.”
Some consumers have reported phone calls from people posing as utility employs and demanding immediate payment of overdue bills. Some victims have been instructed to obtain a cash or gift card and then to call back to provide the card number to the scammer. Once the scammer has the card numbers, the money is gone and cannot be traced. SCE&G President Keller Kissam noted, “Utilities never ask customers to purchase payment cards for bill payment purposes.”
The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc., CEO Mike Couick told the media that elderly and Hispanic customers should be extra cautious. “The pattern suggests these populations are more often targeted,” he said.
Electric cooperatives organized the first news conference on the topic last year. Thursday’s news conference was held at SCE&G’s Cayce headquarters, with officials from Santee Cooper, Duke Energy, AARP and the S.C. Department of Consumer Affairs also participating.
