Yesterday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that the police were looking for two men who were posing as Comcast employees as a ruse to steal social security numbers. The men were driving an unmarked car, wandering around a neighborhood knocking on doors and telling residents they needed to fix some wiring issues. One resident refused, claiming that she didn’t have an appointment. She then saw the employees start knocking on other doors and, finding it unlikely that her entire neighborhood could have “wiring issues,” called the police.

They told a woman they needed to come into her house to fix some wiring, according to a police report. She noted the men drove a black Saturn sedan rather than a marked Comcast vehicle and refused to let them enter, saying she didn’t have an appointment.

The woman told police the men walked down the street knocking on doors.

An 80-year-old homeowner who lives across the street told police he and his son let the men inside. While inside, one of the men had the elderly man say his Social Security number into a cell phone and gave him a false work order, according to the report.

Comcast employees, including contractors, have identification available at all times and usually have a Comcast or contractor vehicle, company spokesman Steve Kipp said.

In some door-to-door sales cases, Comcast employees may ask for the last four digits of a customer’s Social Security number to verify an account, he said. But that information also can be provided over the phone, Kipp said.

Installers never ask for money and should have their Comcast badges prominently displayed, he said.

Today the paper posted a new report that confirms that these mysterious social security number thieves were in fact actual Comcast contractors who were not following proper company procedure.

Kipp said the contractors, working for Roseville, Calif.-based Winmark Authorized Agent Group, should have had their Comcast identification present.

“We’re working with the contracting company to make sure they’re properly trained and an incident like this wouldn’t happen again,” Kipp said.

He said the Social Security and AARP membership information obtained from one man was used to verify a Comcast account and not retained by the contractors.

According to Winmark Authorized Agent Group’s website they’re a D2D marketing firm. They don’t appear to be in the “wiring fixing” business.

Police searching for fraudulent Comcast employees [Seattle P-I]
Wanted Comcast contractors actually legit, company says [Seattle P-I]

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