NEWARK, N.J., May 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G) is alerting its customers about a nationwide phony bill payment program that promises to credit or pay utility bills in exchange for personal information, including social security numbers. The scam, which has been reported in a number of states, claims that President Barack Obama is providing credits or applying payments to utility bills.

Here's how the scam works:

Someone calls a utility customer and tells them that the federal government has a program to pay utility bills on a one-time basis.
Customers are asked to provide their social security numbers to apply for the program.
The scammers then give customers a phony federal reserve bank routing number to use to receive the credit or bill payment. Some PSE&G customers have reported that they entered the false information, then called the company to verify that the payment was made by the government on their behalf.
According to reports, the scammers are also emailing, texting and using social media to reach customers.

Customers should be assured that to help protect the security of PSE&G accounts, PSE&G will not contact customers to request their social security number, as well as username or password for customers who use online account services, such as PSE&G's myAccount.

What to do if you are contacted:

If you receive a phone call, email or other communication purporting to be from PSE&G requesting your social security number, username or password, please do not provide it. Nor should you click on any links or respond in any manner.
Send an email to PSE&G's security department at [ PSEG-BAandR@pseg.com ] with details about what occurred.
When PSE&G makes an outbound phone call to customers, automated or manually, the caller ID will identify the call as coming from PSE&G. The PSE&G representative will ask appropriate security questions and provide predetermined information to confirm customer identity. If customers do not receive these pieces of information, they likely are not speaking with a PSE&G representative. If customers feel uncomfortable and they know they have an outstanding balance that needs to be resolved, they should hang up and call PSE&G directly at 1-800-436-7734 or visit a local PSE&G Customer Service Center. Service Centers are open Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM with locations listed on customer bills. Addresses also are available online at: [ http://www.pseg.com/centers ].
Customers who have doubts about the legitimacy of any call from PSE&G, especially one in which payment is requested, should call the utility directly.

Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) is New Jersey's oldest and largest regulated gas and electric delivery utility, serving nearly three-quarters of the state's population. PSE&G is the winner of the ReliabilityOne Award for superior electric system reliability. PSE&G is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG) (NYSE: [ PEG ]), a diversified energy company ([ www.pseg.com ]).

Want to know what's new at PSEG? Go to [ www.pseg.com/getnews ] and sign up to have our press releases sent right to your inbox.

SOURCE Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSE&G)

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PSE&G Warns Customers About Nationwide Payment Scam

PSE&G Warns Customers About Nationwide Payment Scam

Scammers ask for personal information such as social security numbers