ANTELOPE VALLEY – Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) is alerting customers to be aware of a scam that has impacted other utility customers in several states across the country.
The scam claims President Barack Obama is providing credits or applying payments to utility bills. In some cases, scammers have asked for social security numbers in order to allow for credits or to apply payments to customers’ utility bills, presenting an identity-theft risk.
According to reports, scammers have visited customers in person, posted fliers and used social media and texting to send messages claiming that President Obama will provide a credit or directly pay utility bills.
SoCalGas wants to assure customers that SoCalGas employees carry proper identification when called out to any job. The company also does not randomly call or text customers asking for social security or other information. Customers should verify the employee’s proper uniform and identification before letting anyone in the home or on their property. Customer safety is a top priority for SoCalGas and employees will always be happy to wait while the customer confirms their identity.
SoCalGas offers the follow tips to help customers identify SoCalGas employees:
- Be vigilant and question anyone who presents themselves as a representative of the utility.
– - SoCalGas workers who perform in-home appliance services, work on gas meters or work on gas pipelines wear uniforms. However, some other employees do not. Always ask for identification before allowing anyone inside the home or on the property.
– - The majority of authorized SoCalGas employees will be in uniform with company logo and carry an official employee badge. Most field employees also drive a company vehicle.
– - Most of the time a SoCalGas employee visits a home or business in response to a service request. If no one scheduled an appointment, call SoCalGas before allowing anyone inside the home or property.
– - Never leave the house unlocked and unattended. SoCalGas does not ask customers to leave their homes unattended.
To verify the authenticity of anyone claiming to be a representative of SoCalGas, customers are encouraged to ask for proper identification or call the utility at 1-800-427-2200 (or 1-800-342-4545 in Spanish). SoCalGas customer service representatives are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Visit www.socalgas.com/safety for more information on staying safe.
(Information via press release from Southern California Gas Co.)
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Hate8 Section8 says
Doesn’t surprise me that people fall for these types of scams. Under Obama anti-government programs have exploded! Forty million people are receiving food stamps…an increase of 50% in the last three years under Obama! Ten million receive unemployment…four times the number since 2007! More than 4.4 million people are on welfare, an 18% increase under Obama!
Just the facts says
I recently was listening to a national radio talk show where the host was debating with callers over how much money was being spent on government assistance. The host was explaining that the tax payer is spending a larger portion towards government assistance. A callers reply to the host was “the tax layers don’t pay for my welfare, Obama does!” When the host asked the caller “and where do you think Obama gets this money?”, the caller replied “I don’t know, he makes it at the mint.”
Enough said……..
wild says
this is why ignoramus (the un-egimicated caller) is collecting welfare…what a lazy waste of life and flesh
Abdul Majeed Askia says
Scam. Anything to dirity President Barack Obamas name ! Have you all
thought it out that maybe when it comes your time to set in the office
of president it will suffer from grid lock simply because you wouldn’t
let much go through simply because Obama is president ? Have you all
thought it out that we are all americans and you are deliberately
dividing the people along racial and culturallines ? We are not in the
dark ages,we must come to the fact that america is the world! The entire
world is represented here in america! The only race here is the human
race otherwise you are creating turmoil and senseless conflict causing
each ethnic group to feel left out or insulted! Being that the
president is bi-racial and the fact that forty million or so are
African American don’t you think it is illogical and unwise to play
the race card splitting the country apart ? Where are you guys head
at ! There is no turning back to the dark ages, we must advance
our thinking! I deliberately clash with the old mindset to spark new
life and to take us to the next stage of development! I have no
hatred for humanity,we are one! National Public Speaker/Palmdale,Ca.
email: abdulaskia@yahoo.com
.. says
Abdul the Nutcase… what the heck are you talking about now? I read the posts above yours, and didn’t see one single mention of race, yet there you go again, off on some tangent about someone plying the “race card”, and just mindlessly writing more of your drivel.
Why is it that you are always the one bringing race into every conversation? Once again, you are proving that you have no intention of helping humanity, creating more peace, or any of the other things you’ve claimed. You are only interested in turning every single conversation into a racial thing. Man, you are strange.