Pre-Pay meter scam

The NLA (National Landlords Association) is advising landlords with properties that have pre-payment utility meters to warn their tenants about a scam doing the rounds. The fraud involves energy pre-pay meters that are topped up using Paypoint or Payzone outlets.

Fraudsters are going door to door looking for residents with pre-pay meters for gas and electricity and offering them fake discounted credits. The conmen then take money from the residents and use cloned keys to top up the meter illegally. Also called the “milk round scam”, unknown to the residents, they are continuing to rack up debts with the energy companies. In May 2011, 180,000 incidents of pre-pay meter fraud were reported in the previous twelve months.

Energy companies say that all new meters manufactured since April 2011 are safe from the scam because the master key will not work. But that still means the vast majority of pre-pay meters out there will be vulnerable.

Landlords are advised to inform their tenants of this scam. Energy companies do not go door to door offering discounts on their top up meter products.