City Light warns of bill collector con

Seattle City Light is urging its customers to be on guard against telephone con artists posing as utility bill collectors.

A City Light customer reportedly received a phone call from people claiming to be a City Light employee. The caller claimed there was a problem with payment of the customer's bill and demanded credit card information to resolve the matter.

The scammer appears to be targeting the elderly and customers who may have a primary language other than English.

Carol Dickinson, director of account services, said City Light wants to help its customers protect themselves from such scams.

"We do not make outbound calls to customers asking for money to pay their bill or to ask for personal account or customer information as part of our daily work," Dickinson said. "We respect customer privacy and take security of customer account and payment information seriously. We take many pro-active steps to ensure that customer information is kept safe."

City Light sends at least two written warnings to customers who are about to have their power turned off, asking them to contact the utility directly to make a payment. City Light also would like to remind customers that it never asks customers over the telephone for credit card information to pay their bills; that it does not call customers on weekends and that its employees carry identification with the City Light logo and will always display it when asked.

All untility customers are advised to take down the name and telephone number of anyone who calls and represents themselves as a City Light employee. Also, before a customer provides anyone with credit information, they should call City Light at 684.3000 to verify that the request is legitimate.