The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has warned its customers to be wary of illegal activities by fraudsters who call customers to pay money to ECG mobile money accounts to access ECG services such as meter replacement, meter installation, debt cancellation among others.
This warning from the power distribution company has come at a time when some of its customers have complained about receiving calls from strange numbers to deposit money into mobile money accounts for meters to be installed or replaced for them.
According to Ing. George Amoah, General Manager of ECG in the Ashanti West Region, ECG as a company does not have any mobile money account so customers should not pay attention to fraudsters or any individual who asks them to send money to any mobile money account to access ECG services.
Ing. Amoah added that these fraudsters call customers to make payments to mobile money numbers for service provision or meter replacement.
“They reach out to customers via social media or phone calls and ask customers to make payment to certain mobile money numbers for their meters to be installed or replaced. In some instances, they claim it’s installation fee and end up impersonating ECG officials like the District Manager, accountant or Technical Officer”, he explained.
Ing. George Amoah, ECG General Manager/ Ashanti West Region.
Ing. Amoah indicated that “With the introduction of the ECG cashless system, customers are to initiate transactions or access our services through the ECG PowerApp or shortcode *226#.”
This system allows customers to access ECG services and control their payments without any MoMo charge, so customers should not fall prey to fraudsters.
The ECG Ashanti West Regional General Manager bemoaned the rate at which illegal activities by these fraudsters are gaining momentum and assured the general public that the company is liaising with the security agencies to track and bring these fraudsters to book.
“Just last week, some fraudsters called a customer who had applied for meter with ECG to pay 900 Cedis for the meter to be installed. The customer paid the money and the fraudsters demanded an additional 500 Cedis as installation fee for new service connection to the MoMo number 0508058638. However, the customer became suspicious and visited our office at Adum for clarification before he realized these fraudsters were not officials of the ECG and they stopped picking his calls. There was a similar incident at Breman where an old man paid 2000 Cedis to fraudsters who stopped picking his calls after receiving payment. We are liaising with the security agencies to bring these perpetrators to book”, he explained.
The General Manager further indicated that such cases have been reported in Adum, Kokoben, Suame, Danyame, Abuakwa and Ahinsan Districts and some of the numbers used for such fraudulent activities include 0531807230, 0508790801,0543803302 and 0532752541
Ing. Amoah educated the public that in applying for meter or service with ECG, you first have to complete your wiring by engaging the services of electricians certified by the Energy Commission in accordance with LI 2413 and submit the forms to the Client Management Executive at the ECG Office.
“You will pay a registration fee of 100 Cedis at the ECG Office with your documents then an estimator will come to inspect your installations at your premises and later prepare a quotation for you. Once the quotation is ready, you will receive an SMS from ECG with a unique code telling you how much to pay depending on the service requested be it separate meter or new service and later proceed to the ECG Office to pay your installation fee. If you want to even pay via the ECG PowerApp, you will initiate the transaction yourself, but ECG will not call you that your meter is ready so send money to someone’s personal account or any mobile money number”, he further explained.
Ing. Amoah advised customers that once they pay the service quotation fee at the ECG Office, customers should not pay any money to contractors who come to install meters for them or fall prey to any call that demands further payment from them. “Replacement of faulty meters is free so no customer should pay money to any person who calls or demands payment for a meter to be replaced”, he added.
Ing. Amoah appealed to the public to disregard misinformation that ECG had no meters and added that “with the introduction of the Loss Reduction Project (LRP), ECG had enough meters to service customers who pay for service application and have commenced the replacement of faulty meters to enhance customer satisfaction, operational efficiency and reduce our losses”.
Ing. Amoah urged the general public to help the company curb the menace of MoMo fraudsters by dealing with ECG when they need meters, making payments for meters at the ECG Office and reporting anyone who calls demanding for payment into a MoMo account to the police or the nearest ECG Office.
Source:Lovinghananews.com
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