'British Gas' Electricity Meter Scam

Eviesgranny

BEWARE!!
We received a phone call today purporting to be from British Gas. Our surname and address identified. The young man wished to arrange for us to be at home to have our current meter updated. ( Two months ago we had a genuine engineer out to try to install a Smart Meter, but our network coverage wont support a smart meter) We thought it very strange that they wanted to replace our meter so soon)
He mentioned we would be entitled to 40% discount on our energy bills and then asked us for our bank details. At that point our suspicions were confirmed.
We contacted British Gas Customer services and they confirmed that they were not intending to replace our meter and would never ask for financial details. They concluded that it was most likely to have been another company trying to replace our meter and offering us a discount for the installation. The telephone number was based in Kettering.
As always they sounded genuine. Please be aware.

mac.d

Eviesgranny wrote: »

He mentioned we would be entitled to 40% discount on our energy bills and then asked us for our bank details. At that point our suspicions were confirmed.

They usually send you a letter to arrange an appointment for a new meter not a phone call. Well done on recognising that as soon as anyone asks for any financial details, its time to hang up. Scammers.

Gerry1

It was almost certainly a phishing scam. Few if any energy companies still use cold calling, and the number was probably spoofed. If it was a genuine attempt to switch you to a different energy supplier, the rep would have taken your contact details and the energy company would have subsequently asked you for your direct debit bank details.

If you had provided your bank details you might well have found all your money had been stolen in an 'Authorised Push Payment' fraud.

markin

Energy companies do still use cold calling, that seems to be the most common complaint around here, that they get 3 calls a week to get a smart meter fitted.

tempus_fugit

Eviesgranny wrote: »

BEWARE!!
We received a phone call today purporting to be from British Gas. Our surname and address identified. The young man wished to arrange for us to be at home to have our current meter updated. ( Two months ago we had a genuine engineer out to try to install a Smart Meter, but our network coverage wont support a smart meter) We thought it very strange that they wanted to replace our meter so soon)
He mentioned we would be entitled to 40% discount on our energy bills and then asked us for our bank details. At that point our suspicions were confirmed.
We contacted British Gas Customer services and they confirmed that they were not intending to replace our meter and would never ask for financial details. They concluded that it was most likely to have been another company trying to replace our meter and offering us a discount for the installation. The telephone number was based in Kettering.
As always they sounded genuine. Please be aware.

In what way did it "sound genuine"? Genuine question, as I don't understand when people say this, that they "sounded genuine", what do they say that makes it sound genuine? It's like those folk that givetheir pension money away in scams and they said that the "gentleman sounded genuine" or "the website looked professional", things that can easily be simulated by callers or people with websites. I wouldn't ever do anything based on how they sounded or what their website looks like, so the fact that that the sounded genuine would not make me any more likely to do business with them.

tempus_fugit

mac.d wrote: »

They usually send you a letter to arrange an appointment for a new meter not a phone call. Well done on recognising that as soon as anyone asks for any financial details, its time to hang up. Scammers.

In my book as soon as they called it's time to hang up. I've never been contacted by my energy company by phone, it's always been done by letter or email, so I'm not going to engage with anyone who calls me without proof of who they are.

mac.d

Yep totally agree with you tempus_fugit, I generally trust no one who phones, like you say, the normal process is to contact you by email or letter, they never phone you up out of the blue. But not everyone is as mistrusting, so still good that the OP heard the alarm bells ring as soon as money was mentioned!