WEST PENN POWER

Candace –

Victim Location 17015

Type of a scam Utility

Person who called said our power was to be turned off in 45 minutes, and we were not forewarned because they forgot to seen out an advance notice. I asked how long the outage would be, thinking it was due to working on the lines, and the caller said he didn’t know, but gave me the above 800# to call. When I called it, it connected me to Billing. The person in Billing said the power was going to be turned off because our account is two months in arrears. I told him we rent our office space and electricity is included in the rent. So walked next door to the landlord’s office and was told that the entire two building suites of offices are on automatic bill pay with the electric company, and she pulled up the records to confirm nothing was missed. I fully suspect that had I been a paying customer of my electric bill, the BILLING department guy would have asked for a credit card to "take care of the problem and avoid losing power." This is a horrible scam, especially with older folks.

Christian –

Victim Location 15461

Type of a scam Utility

GENTLEMAN SAID HE WAS FROM WEST PENN ELECTRIC AND THAT OUR ELECTRICITY WOULD BE SHUT OFF BECAUSE BILL WAS NOT PAID FOR 2 MONTHS. I HAD 1/2 HR. TO PAY BILL. THEY EXPLAINED THAT OUR BANK HAD NOT PAID THEM, AND THAT WE WOULD HAVE TO PAY IMMEDIATELY. I PROTESTED THE CLAIM AND THEY SAID IT WOULD TAKE 48 HOURS TO HAVE THIS CLEARED UP AND OUR POWER WOULD BE SHUT OFF UNLESS $400 + WAS PAID TO THEM IMMEDIATELY.

Haley –

Victim Location 15317

Total money lost $344.18

Type of a scam Utility

Received a call claiming to be West Penn Power saying our electric was going to be shut off, unless we paid them using a pre-paid debit card.

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