LOS ANGELES — As utility bills increase along with inflation, prompting many customers to fall behind on payments, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is warning customers to beware of scammers, saying their service will be cut off unless they immediately pay up.

LADWP says scammers are becoming increasingly creative and aggressive by impersonating utility employees, scaring customers, using pressure tactics and demanding unofficial forms of payment.

Often, the scammers will call customers and threaten to shut off their water and power services unless they immediately pay over the phone or get cash from a liquor store, ATM or Bitcoin machine to send payment to a designated account. 

According to the Federal Trade Commission, utility companies won’t demand payment information by email, phone or text.

They also don’t force customers to pay by phone as their only option. “If the caller tells you to pay by gift cad, cash reload card, money transfer or cryptocurrency, it’s a scam,” the FTC warns on its website. 

The FTC says the best way for customers to avoid utility scams is to hang up and call the utility company using the number on their bill or the utility company’s website.

If a scammer left a call-back number or texted, chances are the number they’re using is fake. 

“It is unscrupulous what these scammers are doing, posing as LADWP employees who trick hardworking individuals into paying large sums of money because they’ve been told they are behind on their utility bills,” LADWP Chief Customer Officer George Rofail said in a statement. 

LADWP says the only valid ways for customers to pay their bills are by mail, at ladwp.com, through LADWP’s support and automated payment phone numbers or LADWP customer service centers.