Philadelphia business owner scammed of over $3,000 by PECO impersonators
Latoya Faison said she filed a police report and told PECO about the incident, but she has been unable to recover her money.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A small business owner in Philadelphia is warning others after she says she was scammed out of thousands of dollars.
Latoya Faison, who owns Made with Love Juicery in the Fairmount neighborhood, says that suspects posing as PECO employees scammed her out of $3,400.
"Just be careful, do your due diligence, and trust your gut," said Faison.
The incident happened back on September 14. Faison saw two workers wearing PECO uniforms outside her business on 20th Street and Fairmount Avenue.
She says one of her employees also got a call from a 1-800 number.
"They told me that the disconnection team was outside and they were getting ready to cut the power off and that I had to make a payment using their PECO kiosk," she recalled.
She added that she did not talk to the workers outside. She listened to the phone call and went to the described kiosk, only to find it was for Bitcoin.
"I called them and they said, 'Yes they use Bitcoin,' and so I made the payment," she said.
After the payment went through, she got a frantic call from an employee.
"We figured out that it was never PECO he was speaking to. The 1-800 number, I have no idea. The number they gave me, we were just never in contact with the real PECO," she said.
Faison said she filed a police report and told PECO about the incident, but she has been unable to recover her money.
PECO says the impersonation of employees and scams is a serious concern. The company recommends all customers take steps to protect themselves.
Some tips include never opening the door for someone you don't recognize, asking to see a PECO company ID, verifying your bill online at peco.com, or calling PECO directly at 800-494-4000 if you believe you're being scammed.
PECO also said it never requires customers to pay with gift cards, prepaid credit cards, or Bitcoin.
Faison said she turned the phone numbers of the scammers over to Philadelphia police, but the numbers were disconnected when officers tried to call.
