Click for Original Story (Jersey Shore Online)
JACKSON – Police are warning residents to be wary of a new phone scam where the caller claims to be from Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L).
The scam is targeting Jackson residents, said police.
The scam call is typically from a person claiming to be from JCP&L who makes “reference to their account being delinquent. Further, payment is being requested in prepaid credit cards and/or gift cards,” according to police.
This person is not a JCP&L representative and residents should not give over their information.
First Energy Corporation provides the following facts on JCP&L protocol:
- If your account is past due, you will receive a written notice of your account status, with instructions on how to avoid disconnection of service.
- While our representative may call a customer whose bill is in arrears in order to remind them that a payment is due, the representative would explain how a payment can be made using our established payment options. They will not demand payment over the phone, in person, or at a particular physical location.
- Our utilities do not accept prepaid debit cards or wire transfers as payment, and our representatives will not demand your bank information or credit card number over the phone.
Tips for those who might be targeted by the phone scam:
- If you receive a suspicious call, hang up immediately.
- Be aware that scammers often use Caller ID spoofing software to misrepresent the source of a phone call, or provide you with a fake “verification” phone number. If you would like to verify your account status, always call our Customer Service department using the numbers on our website, or log in to your account on our website.
- If you believe you have been a victim of this scam, please contact your local police department or your state attorney general’s office, and report telephone scams to the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov.
More information on other scams can be found at firstenergycorp.com/…/scam-info/known-scams.html.
Guess the scam is targeting more than just Jackson
Paula Zygmaniak Weber yes. I’m in Howell and get called daily. My bills are current so I know it’s a scam.
Lisa Pavero Rachinsky My daughter in law went to Police after they harassed her today for 30 minutes
If your that stupid to believe it you deserve what you get.
Crystal Gray
Thanks,Dawn Patierno Mathis
my brother in toms river got a scam call today .
Omg they just called my work today and told my boss to pay the bill or it would be shut off in 30 mins. He told us we can work by candle light lmao!!
Adriane De Simone
We had an scammer ass call from PSE&G…My mom was like “We have JCP&L”, he hung up! My favorites are the Microsoft Indian Scammers from Alberta, Canada…I mess with them! I had 1 singing a remix of LMFAO his version was singing “I’M A SCAMMER AND I KNOW IT”…
This isn’t new. This has been ongoing for awhile. Tax refunds drop tonight so you’ll be seeing more scammers.
Again…FBI Can’t instantly respond to Crap like this?? WTF.
Kenny Jensen the FBI is a joke
Got a call Tuesday at work in Point Beach…spoofed the jcpl customer service # and everything. Live person with one of those accents… lol. Saying our account was overdue. I messed with him for a while and then tried to get a call back number he wouldn’t give it to me finally there was silence on the other end. Wednesday and today got a couple more calls all were from that same number on the caller ID and they did not leave a message when I sent it to voicemail