A little over a month ago, around 10 O'clock on a Sunday night, I was quietly sitting on my couch watching Mad Men when my obnoxiously loud door buzzer rang. "Who is it?!", I yelled into my wall. "Con Edison", the mysterious visitor replied. "But I didn't ask you guys to come out, every thing's fine. What do you want?", I explained.
He then said some garbled nonsense about helping me streamline my energy bills, saving money and maximizing my services. I politely said no thanks, and looked at my girlfriend shadily, who returned the stare. Was he trying to rob us, we wondered? As it turns out, this has happened to a few more apartments around Brooklyn, and it's looking like a scammer's scheme.
When the door knockers came to some people in Greenwood Heights, they actually went down to see what the deal was. As they sat looking over her energy bill, the soon-to-be-scammed noticed one guy was copying down her information. As they explain to Brownstoner, "What we saw, but did not dawn on us until later, was that one of the "helpers" was copying down all of our Con Ed information." Weeks later, they got a bill in the mail saying she had been signed up for the new service, and her energy would be transferred shortly. Scam!
The Brooklynian Forums have a poll going to see who else has seen these guys, and the Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights are taking the issue up as well. Shoot them an email if you think you've spotted the energy-saving crooks. It's important to remember that some things that seem too good to be true, most certainly are. Especially when it comes to the money-grubbing energy companies serving NYC!
