Unscrupulous persons have been posing as employees of the two main utility companies in an effort to 'cash in' on the restoration of customers' water and electricity, due to the recent passing of Hurricane Sandy, THE STAR understands.

Scores of persons were temporarily left without the precious commodity due to the hurricane and some 10 per cent of Jamaica Public Service (JPS) customers are still without electricity.

THE STAR understands that on the weekend, persons were being warned through a BlackBerry broadcast message to be careful of the imposters.

The broadcast message read, "Be careful of men going around posing as National Water Commission (NWC) or (JPS) employees checking on premises after the hurricane".

It further said a woman was robbed by a group of men and was left with a broken hand and finger, as the robbers took her wedding ring and a chain.

Winsome Callum, head of corporate communication at the light and power company, said the company is aware of the issue, and customers are being advised to be vigilant.

unscrupulous persons

"We heard last night (Saturday), that this is happening and we are urging customers not to allow anyone who claims to be a JPS employee on their premises to do any work. It is very unfortunate that unscrupulous persons would want to take advantage of our customers, and so we are just asking our customers to be on the alert," Callum said.

When asked if due to Hurricane Sandy, JPS employees would need access to the private premises in an effort to restore electricity, Callum said, that at this stage of the restoration process, it is not necessary.

Meanwhile, efforts to reach corporate public relations manager at NWC Charles Buchanan yesterday were futile.

However, in a similar case last month, men posing as NWC bill collectors were seeking to extort money from persons in relation to fictitious water bills.

In a release then, the NWC had warned that they, "only collect cash payments against customer accounts at the cashier counters at its commercial offices or through the offices of established, authorised payment agencies".

"Absolutely, no employee or anyone else is authorised to collect cash on behalf of the NWC on the streets or at customers' premises for any reason - disconnection, reconnection, regularisation of account, or bill payment," the release said.