LOCALS IN CO Donegal are being told to be on the lookout for scam artists posing as ESB technicians.
A spate of incidents have been reported in recent times in which a man in a yellow ESB jacket and driving a yellow van emblazoned with the ESB logo has sought to gain entry to people’s homes across the county.
The pretext for his visit is usually to read a meter or to examine a fuse box.
The most recent incident has been reported in the Castlefin area near Lifford.
“I was canvassing next door to where the latest instance happened,” Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick McGowan told TheJournal.ie.
So yes, I can confirm that it is happening.
The woman in question didn’t let the man in, but she doesn’t want anyone to enter her house now, she is obviously worried.
McGowan confirmed with the ESB at the time that they had no such meter readers operating in the Castlefin area.
“It was very, very real, and confirmed. They had no-one in that area. We need to deal with this now because the next thing we know they’ll have moved to Galway or Mayo or somewhere else,” he said.
Gardaí were informed of the incident at the time but “they didn’t come out til the next day” according to McGowan.
“I was involved with setting up the text alert in the Finn valley area,” the councillor says.
We have a lack of garda resources here – there’s only one or two gardaí in Letterkenny who can deal with this.
People around here tend to be in touch with each other and to perform their own security.
McGowan says he has “no idea” who the perpetrators are, but the suspicion is that the men involved are casing houses with a view to future burglaries – by asking residents about when they are available for repairs or upgrades.
“There’s been a lot of sightings of ESB vans about the place now but they have all turned out to be legitimate when confronted,” he says.
When contacted by TheJournal.ie gardaí confirmed that they have no record of the incidents in question.
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