Newtown Township, PA - Newtown Township Police have received recent complaints about PECO scams received by telephone. The victims reported receiving an initial telephone call from an individual, claiming that the person was a PECO representative and that the victim’s electricity would be shut off for failure to pay outstanding balances or bills.

The victims were directed to travel to local retail stores and obtain pre-paid gift cards, then call a second telephone number and provide the gift card information to satisfy the alleged outstanding balances. In some cases, the victims were also asked to provide their personal information.

We want to remind the public that legitimate utility companies and creditors WILL NOT solicit you to pay bills or outstanding balances with prepaid gift cards and that you should be aware of these potential scams, which typically target elderly victims. Additional information from PECO's website, advises that "Sophisticated scammers may employ technology to be even more convincing by using a tactic called "spoofing" to manipulate the Caller ID phone number displayed on your phone so that it appears to be a PECO phone number".

We are suggesting that anyone receiving calls from "PECO" or anyone else asking for personal information, or immediate bill payment, should politely decline giving out information, hang up and call PECO directly (1-800-494-4000) to verify the legitimacy of the calls.