Illinois Utility Companies Unite to Warn Customers about Scam Artists

Lee Edwards | As of Thursday, May 14, 2015

ComEd, Nicor Gas and Peoples Gas representatives stated that utility workers will not approach costumers directly asking for any personal information and if that situation occurs the best practice is to close the door and call the police and the utility provider.
ComEd, Nicor Gas and Peoples Gas representatives stated that utility workers will not approach costumers directly asking for any personal information and if that situation occurs the best practice is to close the door and call the police and the utility provider. ComEd

Three of Illinois’ largest utility providers recently united to warn their customers about an influx of scam artists posing as utility workers. ComEd, Nicor Gas and Peoples Gas held a press conference at the Austin Senior Satellite Center, 5071 W. Congress Pkwy., in Chicago to discuss the crisis and solutions.

According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the number of reported scams typically increases with warmer weather. Meanwhile, ComEd, recently reported a 50% increase in reported scams involving ComEd, compared to this same time last year.

The most commonly used tactic by scam artists is to masquerade as utility workers and travel door-to-door in residential communities where they use intimidating and misleading conversations as a means to frighten individuals into divulging their personal banking information. Another popular scam employs similar intimidating and misleading conversations, but is done over the telephone.

Neither ComEd, Nicor Gas and Peoples Gas do not deploy personnel to a customer's residence to collect on delinquent bills nor do they ever require during a home visit, for customers to release personal information. However, many individuals, primarily seniors and non-native English speakers, fall victim to these scams.

ComEd's Senior Vice President of Governmental and External Affairs, Fidel Marquez, told the Chicago Citizen Newspaper that individuals who believed they were visited by a scam artist should report the incident to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, their utility provider, and the police.

“We’re pleased to partner with Nicor Gas, Peoples Gas and the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), we’re all very aware of the situation and want our customers to be aware as well so that they may protect themselves from these scams,” said Marquezs, ComEd. “There are a lot of attempts where people are aware and don’t report them. It’s important to report them all so we can better understand what is going on.”

Nicor Gas' Vice President of Operations, Jim Griffin, said that Nicor Gas customers suspect attempted scams should call Nicor Gas immediately.

“Raising awareness to our customers of these dangerous scammers is critical to their predatory and fraudulent tactics,” said Griffin. “According to reports, these criminals posing as utility workers are more and more sophisticated using scare tactics and making unreasonable demands. Nicor Gas does not do business this way.”

Peoples Gas' Manager of Government and Community Relations, Eva-Dina Delgado, said while their utility employees may require access to a customer’s home to provide a service, customers will be alerted in advance in order to schedule an appointment.

“Peoples Gas would like to remind residents to be alert and cautious when approached by any person in their home,” said Delgado. “Peoples Gas and Northshore Gas customers will always receive bills and letters about natural gas accounts. Safety is our top priority. We want to make sure that all of our customers take the necessary precautions to ensure that they don’t fall victim to any door-to-door scam or telephone scam.”

ComEd provides electric service to approximately 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois. To learn more about ComEd visit https://www.comed.com/Pages/default.aspx.

Peoples Gas is a regulated natural gas utility serving nearly 831,000 customers within the city of Chicago. To learn more about Peoples Gas visit http://www.peoplesgasdelivery.com/.

Nicor Gas provides consumers with natural gas and is the largest natural gas distributor in northern Illinois, serving more than 2.2 million customers. To learn more about Nicor Gas visit https://www.nicorgas.com/.

To learn more about the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) visit http://citizensutilityboard.org/index.html

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