Power NI issue scam warning

The warning comes after a Lisburn householder contacted Power NI to say she had received a bogus phone call.

The customer had received an automated call which claimed to be from her electricity provider.

The automated message went on to tell her that her electricity bill was too high, and asked her to press button two to find out why.

The line then went dead, indicating that this was a scam which could possibly result in the customer paying a premium rate.

Maureen Delaney from Power NI 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 here day and daily. The PSNI advice is to be very careful of people phoning or calling to your home.

Worried

“What we would advise is that if any customer is worried that the caller isn’t legitimate, terminate the call. Legitimate companies won’t have a problem with you calling them back.”

Power NI also 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 to your home.

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 Power NI, contact the Customer Helpline on 08457 455 455 (Local call rate. Mon-Fri 8am-8pm and Sat 9am-1pm).