Seattle City Light says telephone con artists are posing as utility bill collectors and targeting customers with Asian surnames.

In the past few days, at least four customers reported they received phone calls from people claiming to be City Light employees. The callers claim there is a problem with payment of the customer's bill by check and demand credit card information to resolve the matter. Fortunately, the customers avoided becoming victims and contacted City Light to alert the utility to the problem.

"There is no reason Seattle City Light would be calling customers in this manner," Customer Care Director Kelly Enright said. "We don't do business that way."

City Light sends at least two written warnings to customers who are about to have their power turned off, asking them to contact the utility directly to make a payment.