A total of 953 residents across Santa Clara County have fallen victim to PG&E scams, according to the gas and electric company – and some of those residents live in Mountain View and Los Altos.
Approximately 69 of those residents resided in Mountain View and four live in Los Altos, according to Tamar Sarkissian, PG&E Spokesperson. Los Altos Hills did not have any reports this year.
Across PG&E territory, there were 21,000 reports of scams resulting in the loss of $300,000, an average loss of $670, according to a press release. While residential customers are targets both online and by phone, small businesses are also being targeted – the busy holiday season is an especially lucrative time for scammers.
PG&E received approximately 700 reports of scam attempts targeting small businesses in 2025.
“Scammers rely on customers feeling pressured to make immediate payment. They do this under the premise that the customer’s power will be immediately disconnected if they do not pay,” stated Jake Zigelman, PG&E regional vice president, Bay Area, in the release. “If you receive a call like this, remember, PG&E will not contact you for the first time within one hour of service disconnection, and we will never request payment by a pre-paid debit card or via online payment services like Zelle or Venmo. If a call doesn’t feel right, hang up. You can always log into your account at PGE.com or call our customer service line to verify your billing details.”
To better minimize the chances of falling victim to PG&E scams, the company offered the following tips:
• PG&E will never request payment information in a phone call, nor will the company ever request payment through a pre-paid debit card, Zelle or Venmo. Accounts with outstanding balances instead are contacted with an advance disconnection notice, usually by mail, that is included with the monthly bill.
• Verify outstanding balances and the status of an account by visiting the “my account” tab on PGE.com, or by calling customer service at (800) 743-5000.
• Those who have been contacted by a scammer are encouraged to report the incident by calling PG&E at (833)-500-SCAM or visiting PGE.com/scams. Alerting local authorities of the scam is also crucial, as PG&E works with law enforcement agencies to spot trends.
Those who’ve been scammed should contact local authorities.
