Utility companies help protect consumers from con artists
Thieves who impersonate utility workers to commit robberies are known to rehearse the cons they use to get inside people’s homes, a water company warns.
“The whole thing is choreographed,” said Josephine Posti, spokeswoman for Pennsylvania American Water.
The problem exists across the state and tends to increase during the summer, Posti said Tuesday, a day after utility companies in Pennsylvania announced they formed a coalition to educate the public on ways they can protect themselves from such crimes.
A Robinson Township couple was robbed of $5,000 and jewelry by two men who pretended to be water company workers in November. Similar instances of this type of robbery were under investigation at that time in Pittsburgh and McKees Rocks.
Posti said Pennsylvania American participated in a news conference in Harrisburg Monday launching the Keystone Alliance to Stop Utility Imposters. The initiative partners utilities with the Public Utilities Commission and district attorneys to raise awareness about the crimes and find ways to target the criminals, she said.
The company distributed photographs in Harrisburg of real utility workers in uniform and others portraying imposters in clothing without any identifying markings.
“All of the utilities see it,” Posti said, referring to these types of crimes in the areas they serve.
In most cases, utilities don’t send one of their employees to a house with an appointment, she said.
The alliance is launching a media campaign to warn homeowners to always ask to see a company-issued identification before allowing a worker inside their houses.
“These criminals typically prey on seniors and use a variety of excuses to enter and steal from the home,” Cumberland County District Attorney David J. Freed said in a news release.
“But if homeowners know what to look for and how to protect themselves, we can not only prevent this crime but also catch and prosecute these thieves to the fullest extent of the law,” Freed said.