Philadelphia residents are being hit with a wave of aggressive phone calls from scammers who threaten to shut off their power unless they pay up on the spot. The callers spoof PECO’s real phone number, sound official, and then crank up the pressure, sometimes ordering victims to move cash through neighborhood drugstores using barcodes. The entire script is built to spark panic so people pay before they pause to check their actual bills.
One local customer, Paul Friedman, told NBC10 Philadelphia that a caller displaying PECO’s 1-800 number warned his power would be cut at 2 p.m. unless he paid immediately. The person on the line even rattled off his correct account number before instructing his wife to deposit cash at a CVS using a barcode. According to the station, PECO has logged 126 scam reports so far in 2026, and the company confirmed the number that appeared on Friedman’s phone was spoofed. It is the latest entry in a growing list of impersonation schemes aimed at local utility customers.
…