Brandon Pomerleau Door to Door Utility

Victim Location 02152

Type of a scam Utility

Man comes to our upstairs apartment and knocks on my roommate’s bedroom door. He tells her he is working for Direct Energy and they are a third party being used to update the rates of our National grid bills- that they have been reduced and some people in our neighborhood had been missed and they had to manually go door to door to check our bills. He states that electric rate is being reduced to 12 cents/kw from 20 cents and gas from 100 cents to 70 cents/therm. He asks to check the bills, take down the information and then answer a confirmation call from the company. He has an ipad and has you sign electronically. I was suspicious the whole time, but never saw a motive for what could be gained by this. They never asked for payment or could access my payment information. Before you receive the call, he warns you that the agent will tell you that the sales agent is not supposed to be there while you have the confirmation conversation, but he warns you that he wants to make sure it all just goes smoothly so he’ll stay and guide you through the questions. He has a hand-written sheet that is the only piece of paper he gives you, and literally it says yes/no on it and as the agent is asking you questions he points to the answer he wants you say. He also emphasizes, you do not have to provide your email if you don’t want to. Ultimately it is clearly sketchy because he is having you outright lie to the phone agent, about him being there, about receiving paperwork documenting this transaction, about clearly understanding what you’re signing up for. Everything about the transaction entails that there are scams out there about this and he assures you he "is not a sales agent", that he "is not taking you away from national grid" and the phone agent wants to make sure that you are informed and that there is no agent there coercing your hand– because the paperwork and verification you are signing up for is a new supplier–replacing National Grid. The scammer’s supposed name was Brandon Pomerleau and he seemed very nice, seemed very helpful and asks you if you have any questions and tells you to call him directly if you have any concerns or think of anything. It didn’t feel right though, so I called National Grid and they confirmed they did not change the rates and if they did they would notify by mail and that the scam-artist was changing your supplier.