Carers are advised to be vigilant over the coming months to a scam involving electricity prepayment meter keys.

Criminal gangs have gained the ability to clone the prepayment keys used on this type of meter, which they use to offer fraudlent discounted credit to customers.  An estimated 85,000 households have been approached by doorstep salesmen since the start of the summer, according to industry body Energy UK.

But customers who buy the half-price black market credit could end up having to pay again for the energy use.  The gangs, who sometimes claim to be from the energy companies, typically offer £50 worth of prepayment meter top-up at half the price.  The salesmen then push the cloned key into the householder’s meter to add the credit.  Customers get their extra electricity but, since the credit is illegal, they may end up having to pay their energy supplier as well – effectively paying twice.

Since a fairly high number of carers in Southwark use prepayment meters, we wanted to draw your attention to this scam.  Energy UK has advised that no official sellers of electricity meter top-ups operate door-to-door and that customers are being asked to report to Crimestoppers anyone they know selling top-ups illegally.