A fake PG&E person has been making the rounds in Glen Park and the Excelsior. One Glen Park family received a service request last week and when they called PG&E to confirm, they were told that the utility had NOT sent anyone out to their house. This was on Arlington near Mateo.
The PG&E staffer they spoke with on the phone said they’d heard similar stories recently. When she called the police to report it they said “spread the word that if this fake PG&E person is seen again to, please call the police ASAP with a description so they can send someone out.”
The scary thing is it’s a legitimate PG&T service notice form but the PG&E numbers have been crossed out and instead a different number has been written in where it says “call for an appointment.”
The form this family got said the service person was Scott Connell. The Glen Park resident said she’d called PG&E previously for a gas leak and recognized this form as a valid PG&E form, but the name/number of the person on it is not.
The form left on her doorstep was for a “Gas Safety Meter Inspection” The officer called the phone number on the very official work order form and the voicemail for the number written on the form did state working for PG&E and a Gas Safety Meter Inspection. However, PG&E had no such work order for our house.
When the police arrived they told her that they can’t actually do anything as no laws have been broken. “Even if the police were with you and they catch them impersonating a PG&E worker, it is not against any law. The suspicious person would just be noted as a “suspicious person.” For right now the police can only take a report of a suspicious occurrence,” she said.
The only advice the officer could give was to never open the door to anyone, but did as that if the person came back, or to another house, to be a good witness and get as full a description of the person and vehicle as possible, especially since it seems that this person has been around the neighborhood.
On the phone, PG&E also told the officer that they will notify the homeowner before any inspection takes place and the person should be in an official PG&E uniform with corresponding truck.
The officer was able to confirm with PG&E that they do NOT follow up with these bogus workers trying to gain access to people’s houses