Bogus callers warning

The local energy supplier was informed of this by several householders across Northern Ireland reporting bogus callers who claimed they were entitled to age-related discounts on their bills.

In other cases, they tried to sell an energy saving device for a one-off payment and asked customers for their bank details.

Maureen Delaney from NIE Energy has confirmed that none of the calls were made by anyone in NIE Energy.

She said: “We have had a number of reports of bogus callers recently. We’ve been in touch with the PSNI and they have told us that this is part of a wider problem with fraudsters pretending to be from banks, credit card and other companies. Unfortunately, incidents of this sort are happening day and daily. The PSNI’s advice is to be very careful of people phoning or calling to your home.”

Customers are advised to terminate any call they may feel is not legitimate, as any genuine company will be able to provide a number on which you can return the call. NIE Energy’s telephone number can be found on the back of bills or direct debit statement, as well as in the Yellow Pages, the Phonebook or online.

NIE Energy has a range of services available to offer extra protection from bogus callers. With the company’s ‘Password Scheme’ you can give a password to use each time the company calls.

The current PSNI advice is to always guard your personal and banking details and never disclose them to any unauthorised person. If you have received a call of this kind or are concerned by the intent of financial promise, report it to police on the non-emergency telephone 0845 600 8000.

In the case of NIE Energy, contact the Customer Helpline on 08457 455 455 (Local call rate. Mon-Fri 8am-8pm and Sat 9am-1pm).