Community Corner

PSE&G Warns of Barack Obama Scam

Scam promises to pay or credit utility bills.

A new scam using President Barack Obama’s name claims to provide utility bill credits in exchange for personal information, including social security numbers, according to Public Service Electric and Gas.

“The scam, which has been reported in a number of states, claims that President Barack Obama is providing credits or applying payments to utility bills,” the company said in a statement.

PSE&G offered the following details on how the scam works:

• Someone calls a utility customer and tells them that the federal government has a program to pay utility bills on a one-time basis.

• Customers are asked to provide their social security numbers to apply for the program.

• The scammers then give customers a phony federal reserve bank routing number to use to receive the credit or bill payment. Some PSE&G customers have reported that they entered the false information, then called the company to verify that the payment was made by the government on their behalf.

• According to reports, the scammers are also emailing, texting and using social media to reach customers.

Anyone who receives such a call is asked to e-mail PSE&G’s security department with details at PSEG-BAandR@pseg.com.


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