Criminals have made more than £7 million out of electricity customers who have paid for bogus energy top-ups.
Customers have been scammed by buying fake electricity top-up for their prepayment meters at their doorstep. Customers ultimately end up paying for their electricity twice – once to the criminal and once to their energy company.
More than 120,000 customers have been affected to date. It is feared that this number could increase as there are over 3.5 million prepayment meter customers in Britain.
Police officers carried out a raid this week at shops in London in connection with suspected criminal activity involving electricity prepayment meters.
Spot electricity fraudsters
Energy companies never sell electricity top-ups on the doorstep. Customers can only buy electricity top-ups from official outlets including PayPoint, Payzone or the Post Office.
The Top-up Safe campaign website has more information about electricity fraud.
Read more about electricity fraud on Energy UK’s website.
Please note: Action Fraud is not responsible for the content on external websites.
To report a fraud, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use our online fraud reporting tool.
See also:
Doorstep electricity meter scams
Doorstep fraud
Electricity top-up scam
