Staying vigilant: How to avoid an energy scam

Businesses face various threats, one of the most deceptive being energy scams. It’s crucial to stay vigilant as these tactics aim to extract sensitive information and compromise your data security. Scammers often impersonate energy company representatives or regulatory authorities to gain your trust and access your data. 

Energy scam advice

As your trusted supplier, we take fraud and crime seriously and are dedicated to doing everything we can to protect our customers. Recently, criminals have posed as SmartestEnergy Business representatives to target customers and extract information. 

These scams can appear through door knocking, cold-calling, email, text, WhatsApp, Messenger, and social media. The messages often convincingly impersonate our brand and may even claim to be from Ofgem, the energy regulator. To help protect your business, we’ve compiled the following advice: 

Please be cautious of any unplanned phone calls, criminals can use spoofed numbers to impersonate SmartestEnergy Business or others, pressuring your to confirm personal information or passwords. Please be extra cautious if the call appears to be made from a noisy call centre, as this can be a sign of an illegitimate call. 

 If you’re suspicious about any such call, please hang up and also report the instance to SmartestEnergy Business if the call was not from us, by calling the phone number on your invoice or our website. If possible, please note the telephone number the caller was using, the name they are using and any other information they have already obtained so that this can be reported to our data protection team. 

Engaging a broker for energy services

If you’re contacted by an energy broker, before deciding whether to engage their services, we would firstly advise that you do your own checks to ensure they are legitimate, well-established and trusted. 

If you do choose to appoint an energy broker, they will be required to operate on your behalf under Letter of Authority (LOA) when handling your supply contract with an energy supplier. 

SmartestEnergy Business vigilant verification checks

At SmartestEnergy Business, we take the protection of our customers' data very seriously. Our staff are vigilant and complete caller verification checks for inbound calls to ensure no data or account information is shared with unauthorised parties. When we call you, we will ask you to confirm three pieces of account-specific information to protect your data and ensure we are speaking with the correct person from your company.

We have been made aware that callers are contacting our customers posing as SmartestEnergy Business staff to obtain information. Please be extra cautious when taking inbound calls and listen out; if the call appears to be made from a noisy call centre, this can be a sign of an illegitimate call. Scam callers may also make use of spoofing technology, where the number calling appears to be a SmartestEnergy Business number, so please remain vigilant.

If something doesn't feel right, remember you can always end the call and get in touch with us directly using the telephone number provided on your invoice or our official website. Taking this step can help ensure you are speaking with a verified member of our team.

What to do if you suspect you have fallen for a scam

If you believe you’ve received a suspicious call, please report it to us as soon as possible. Try to note the number that contacted you, the name the caller used, and any information they requested or already appeared to know. This helps our data protection team investigate and further protect our customer base.

If you think you may have shared sensitive information or fallen victim to a scam, we recommend contacting your bank immediately, especially if you have disclosed any financial details. You should also report the incident to Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime. For more information, please visit their website.

For any concerns or to report a suspected scam, contact our Customer Services team on 01903 703400 or email customerservices.business@smartestenergy.com.