Jun 25, 2015 3 min read

Someone shows up on your doorstep claiming to be from a local utility and wanting you to participate in performing some sort of test. You cooperate because you want to help and you also want to make sure your home is safe and that electric, water or natural gas service is working as it should.

DON’T DO IT! was the theme of a news conference Thursday morning at Southmont at Presbyterian Senior Care, Washington, where the Keystone Alliance to Stop Utility Imposters launched a campaign starring a gyrating Elvis impersonator.

“If you still have a suspicious mind, call 911,” the Elvis look-alike intones in an ad. “And say, ‘No thank you. No thank you very much.'” The imposter campaign will appear in public service announcements and be distributed to utility customers.

Elvis’ education program aims to drive home the point that while some fakes are easy to spot, the nefarious ones, like utility imposters, must be stopped in their tracks.

Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone said residents have been “buffaloed and conned” by thieves in this type of crime, and he thanked the utilities for banding together to try to school customers, especially seniors, on this topic.

In the summer, these schemes tend to pop up because it’s easier to lure people outside to look at a wire or a pipe. But criminals also engage a resident in one part of a home to distract them while a cohort enters the premises and grabs cash, jewelry or both.

Anyone can don a hard hat, utility belt and work boots, and would-be thieves can produce authentic-looking ID badges. But unless there’s an emergency evacuation afoot, actual utility workers will come to someone’s door only at the homeowner’s request and by prior appointment, said Michael Larkin, field operations leader for Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania Inc. in Washington. In the case of a mass evacuation, police and firefighters also would be present.

“We very rarely have to go into your house,” said Gary Lobaugh, external affairs manager for Pennsylvania American Water. If that is the case, the water company goes through “several levels of notification,” he added.

A suspicious customer can either ask the alleged utility worker for a phone number to verify the visit, call the utility’s published customer service number or, for the quickest response, call 911, before ever allowing a stranger access to their home.

Larkin said Columbia Gas will have its workers, wearing the company logo on their garb, park as close to a home as possible so that a resident can also see a vehicle bearing the company logo.

“You have to be on your guard,” Larkin said. “The criminals are getting smarter than we are, because while we’re working, the criminals are sitting there thinking, ‘How am I going to scam the next person?'”