Police warning over solar heating scam

POLICE and Trading Standards chiefs  have issued a warning about a new type of scam involving solar panel companies operating from Warrington and other locations across the North West.
They are targeting people by cold calling them at home either by telephone or by knocking on their door.
Householders are told there are “government grants” available for funding and are told a “soft application” will be made.
In reality all this means is that the solar panel companies are applying for funding using the victim’s details.
They are completing all the applications online and by using their own email addresses are ensuring that all documentation is sent to them.
The householder has no record of any finance being obtained using their details.
Often they are vulnerable or elderly and do not have the means to pay back any finance that has been taken out without their consent or knowledge.
They are led to believe that the electricity generated will cover the cost of the solar panels being supplied and fitted.
One victim who had solar panels fitted by a company from Warrington has shown police all the paperwork she has been given but there is nothing to show how the panels were being finance.
Police have contacted the finance company who provided the funds for the payment. They have stated that since the first week in January they have received 10 complaints of similar loans being set up via a web portal. All correspondence is then sent via email which the victim has no knowledge of as it goes directly to the solar panel company.
A police spokesman said: “It is likely that the victim would have no knowledge of the loan. The finance company also state that in many cases the solar panels are not fitted to a finished standard or are not signed off as correctly completed thus rendering them as virtually worthless.”
Cheshire Trading Standards have had one other allegation regarding the company based in Warrington. This was from a householder who had solar panels installed but then discovered following a call at home from their bank that a loan to pay for the solar panels had been taken out without their knowledge or consent.
They were able to cancel the loan through their bank before any payments were made.
In most cases further investigation is required to ascertain if a fraud has been committed. In some cases the householders do actually want to have the solar panels fitted. It might also be the case that the extra revenue from the electricity generated would pay for the loan that bought the solar panels.
However the solar panels must be fitted and must be signed off as completed to the required standards.
Conversely understanding on the part of the householders as to how the solar panels are being paid for is required before entering into a contract with any company.