Prang Chulsa, general director of Electricite du Cambodge (EDC), has warned customers of the Kingdom’s electricity provider to avoid paying monthly bills or transferring money to anyone who claimed to be an employee of the company.

His September 11 announcement explained that the EDC has received a series of complaints regarding crooks pretending to be EDC officials. They had contacted customers via phone or social media to ask for payments through Wing or True Money for monthly bills or to change electricity meters or circuit breakers. In some cases they had demanded payment to avoid temporary power outages.

“In this regard, EDC appeals to all customers. If an unidentified person contacts you to ask for payment for any of these reasons, do not do so. Please notify EDC as soon as possible, so legal action can be pursued,” it said.

It explained that payments of monthly electricity bills or other services should only made when a correct invoice is received. EDC does not send employees to seek payment outside of its usual payment systems.

“Customers can pay at EDC counters or through our partner banks and microfinance institutions. EDC will not be responsible for any money that is lost in cases of fraud,” it added.

Sek Socheat, co-founder of the Mindset Development Organisation, warned that this kind of scam was neither new nor unique to Cambodia. He said similar schemes took place in many countries.

He added that EDC make this information widely available to its customers, by including it with people’s electricity bills and encouraging the media to share it.

“This kind of fraud is widespread, so it is difficult to identify the criminals who deceive people into paying money to their accounts,” he said.