GROVE CITY — The Grove City Police Department is warning residents of a phone scam happening in the area.

People are calling customers pretending to be from PPL Electric or Penn Power. They are telling customers that their electric account is delinquent and that they need to make an immediate payment or their power will be shut off. In some cases, people have been told to pay with prepaid debit cards.

Grove City Police Department is advising its residents to be cautious of these calls and to only deal directly with account representatives they know and can verify from companies that they know are valid. Police also caution against sending checks, money orders or any other forms of payment as a result of threatening phone calls, and advise that most companies do not attempt to collect money by phone.

Grove City Police advise that many of the ongoing phone and other scams can be researched online to get more information and prevent people from becoming victims.