Top Tips: Birmingham is a hotspot for electric conmen

Nov 24 2010 By Mark Cowan

SMOOTH-TALKING door-to-door conmen are raking in a tidy profit preying on householders with electricity meters by selling them fake top-up credits.

Birmingham has been revealed as one of the UK’s top hotspots for a scam targeting people who have prepayment meters, with 5,790 incidences reported in the city this year.

The doorstep scam sees criminals touring suburbs offering people electricity top-ups seemingly for reduced prices.

In some cases people are being offered £50 top-ups for just £25.

But energy bosses warned the criminals are the only ones gaining from the illegal top-ups as customers end up having to pay twice, first to the criminals who pocket the cash and then to the energy company for the electricity they have used.

The scam involves only electricity prepayment meters who use a special “key” to top-up with credit.

They then insert the key in the meter to pay for the electricity they use.

The problem is affecting customers of all of the leading energy companies, including British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, npower, Scottish Power and SSE.

They are now urging customers to top up only through official channels: PayPoint or Payzone and the Post Office.

Customers who use prepayment meters have been contacted by their energy supplier to warn them about the scam.

The Top-up Safe campaign visited Birmingham’s Centenary Square to warn customers to steer clear of the criminal gangs behind the scam.

The Top-up Safe campaign has the support of the Safer Birmingham Partnership and Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

Christine McGourty, a Director at Energy UK, said: “We are visiting the streets of Birmingham to raise awareness of this serious and widespread crime that is happening on people’s doorsteps in the city.

“We are warning people in Birmingham not to get involved with this scam and the criminals behind it.

“When an offer seems too good to be true, it usually is, and this scam is no different, if you buy an illegal top-up, you’re the one who’ll end up losing out.