ComEd scam: Utility warns of fake employees

CHICAGO (WLS) -- ComEd is warning customers about a scam in which con artists are posing as ComEd employees and asking for money.

Ray Liskowski relies on the blow dryers, fans and light to keep his Lakeview dog grooming business, Happy Tails, running. So when he recently got a call from someone who claimed to be a ComEd rep saying the power was going to be shut off in an hour, he felt vulnerable.

"This guy just caught me off guard," Liskowski says. "It was a bad day, I wasn't feeling good. He hit me at the right time."

The man on the phone urged him to rush to Walgreen's, buy a Green Dot prepaid debit card with $217 on it, and then call back to pay. Liskowski says he was three days behind on his bill and that the man on the phone somehow knew his personal information.

"Otherwise I wouldn't have believed him, because people call all of the time with different people, with scams and I can blow them off," he says, "but this guy knew my name and account number."

Liskowski paid and then realized it was a scam after calling ComEd. He also filed a police report, but the 888 number he called to hand over the debit card information is now disconnected.

"They are getting very sophisticated," says Fidel Marquez Jr., a senior vice president at ComEd, "and again they prey on people's fears and concerns."

Marquez tells the I-Team that ComEd will never call you to demand an immediate payment, and that written notices will always be sent prior to a call. How could those scammers be getting account numbers?

"We are trying to figure that out," says Marquez. "How they got that account number, or whether it was something left behind, or what. So we don't know."

Marquez says consumers should also be shredding your electric bills with account information. If you get a call, hang up and call a ComEd representative.

ComEd is working with the Illinois Attorney General's office, but there may not be much more authorities can do beside warn people.

"We have seen an uptick with these scams, and with Latino customers particularly, recently," says Marquez. "So we are especially paying attention to that and getting notices to those communities."

ComEd says there have also been reports of scams where fake ComEd reps are showing up at people's homes. In those cases they could be trying to collect money that customers may not really owe, or they may be casing locations. If customers are ever suspicious, they can ask to see a worker's ID or call ComEd to verify.

ComEd has taken the following steps to warn customers about these scams:

• Sent bill inserts to commercial customers in September bills.
• Created a scam alert web page
• Added a scam alert on September bills
• ComEd Security & Marketing participated in the Sheriff Saturday at DuPage County Fairgrounds on September 27, where they passed out 1000 flyers. ComEd's External Affairs Department will also be sharing this flyer with the municipalities, libraries and police departments.
• The Small Business Energy Saving (SBES) program is running an outreach program called Feet on the Street from Sept. through Nov. In addition to providing incentive information, they will be handing out flyers on a recent scam that had impacted small business customers. The Feet on the Street will be in the following areas:
• Humboldt Park and Logan Square: Sept. 19 to Oct. 8
• West Ridge: Oct. 9 to Oct. 22
• Dunning: Oct. 23 to Nov. 5