Identifying the good guys – and thwarting the bad ones

York Elec­tric works hard to earn and keep your trust. We also look out for our mem­bers by alert­ing them to pos­si­ble scams.

Some scam­mers are brazen enough to walk right up to your door and some are now using tech­nol­o­gy and tele­phones to com­mit iden­ti­ty theft.

First, we want to help you iden­ti­fy your co-op’s employ­ees and those of the con­tract util­i­ty com­pa­ny we hire, Asplundh, who help main­tain your coop­er­a­tive’s rights of way.

All of our field employ­ees, and many office employ­ees, wear York Elec­tric uni­forms and dri­ve vehi­cles with our name and logo. Should you have any doubts about whether or not the per­son work­ing in your area is a legit­i­mate YEC employ­ee, please call us. Asplund­h’s crews don’t wear our uni­forms, of course, but their trucks are easy to spot and iden­ti­fy.

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, tech­nol­o­gy masks a lot of crooks. Co-ops nation­wide are warn­ing mem­bers about a rise in bill pay­ment fraud scams over the phone.

 

Fake home ener­gy audits and scams relat­ed to pre­paid cred­it cards are becom­ing more com­mon at co-ops across the South­east and Mid-Atlantic regions. Callers demand peo­ple make a large pay­ment to can­cel an order to shut off pow­er. They pre­tend to nego­ti­ate and accept a low­er amount if you imme­di­ate­ly obtained a pre­paid cred­it card.

Vari­a­tions include calls claim­ing expi­ra­tion of auto­mat­ic bank drafts. Scam­mers seek per­son­al finan­cial infor­ma­tion, which could enable a thief to raid bank accounts. Oth­er frauds include “Home Walk-Through” scam calls. The mem­ber is told they can save mon­ey on their util­i­ty bills if they sched­ule a walk-through ener­gy audit of the home. It’s a tech­nique to get a lay­out of a home for a future bur­glary.

If you receive a sus­pi­cious call regard­ing your co-op bill, get the caller’s num­ber, hang up and call the police. Nev­er give your cred­it card num­ber or oth­er per­son­al infor­ma­tion over the phone. We will not call or email you for your account num­ber or pass­word. Keep your account infor­ma­tion to your­self.

Call York Elec­tric at (803) 684‑4248 to report any inci­dent; a mem­ber ser­vices rep­re­sen­ta­tive can con­firm your bill and let you know of any prob­lems with your account.

Stay safe!