Telemarketers are scamming BC Hydro customers with promises of saving electricity costs.
Customers have been receiving phone calls from someone claiming to be a BC Hydro representative selling “hydro power savers,” a supposed device that can reduce power consumption of household devices.
“This is a fraud, BC Hydro doesn’t call customers trying to sell devices,” said Bob Harriman, BC Hydro chief security officer. “There are no power saving devices that you can hook onto the power grid to save money.”
Sometimes the caller even explains they have the customers power consumption info, but BC Hydro doesn’t give out customer information to third parties, such as telemarketers, Harriman said.
There are cases where customers have purchased devices and received them in the mail, but they do not work. Other customers have sent money to the scammers and did not received anything.
The scam operators claim to sell these products with prices ranging from $50 to $250. These cases have been occurring across B.C. and Alberta.
“We’ve been seeing a steady increase in the past year in these calls,” Harriman said, adding each day BC Hydro receives two to three calls per day from customers who report the attempted scam.
“That is not including the calls where someone hangs up or ignores the call.”
BC Hydro suggests if people get a phone call from one of the scammers, report it to the Better Business Bureau at 250-386-6348.