Atlantic City Electric has warned customers to stay vigilant as the utility has seen an increase in phone scams over the past year.
Representatives with the company said they have seen an increase in imposters using energy-related scams to steal money -- especially over the phone -- since October of last year.
According to the company Atlantic City Electric, and its sister utilities Delmarva Power and Pepco, have seen a number of recent impacts from phone scams:
- More than 2,200 reports of scam attempts, a 5% increase over 2022.
- The success rate of the scammers increased from 10 to 11%.
- A 36% increase in attempts in the last quarter of last year compared to the same time period in 2022.
- In the last quarter of last year, customers lost more than $74,000 – a 64% increase from the same period in 2022.
- In all, customers lost more than $205,000 to phone scams – nearly 30% more than 2022.
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Officials with the utility company are telling customers who worry they may have been contacted by a scammer to contact Atlantic City Electric at 800-642-3780 and, they said any customer who believes they have been a target of a scam is urged to contact their local police and call Atlantic City Electric immediately to report the situation.
To learn more about preventing scams, visit atlanticcityelectric.com for more tips and information.
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