Oahu residents are being warned of people attempting to enter private homes claiming to be employees of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply.
The reports have come in from Mililani, Kailua and Kalihi in the last two weeks.
Board spokesman Kurt Tsue said the agency was alerted by the adult daughter of a Kailua couple that the family was visited by a man wearing a green shirt without a Board of Water Supply logo on it. The man told the couple the water would be shut off if he was not given money, Tsue said.
"That’s not something BWS would ever do," Tsue said.
The man also was not wearing a City and County of Honolulu badge identifying himself as a Board of Water Supply employee, and when asked for identification, the man refused to provide any, Tsue said. "That’s an immediate red flag when they refuse to provide identification immediately."
Meanwhile, the Better Business Bureau of Hawaii received similar calls Tuesday from two separate families who appear to live in Mililani and Kalihi, based on the first three digits of their return phone numbers.
In one of the cases, a man approached a family and said its water bill was overdue and that service would be cut if he wasn’t given money, said Timothy Caminos, director of communications for the Better Business Bureau’s local chapter. In one of the cases, a man was wearing a green shirt, he said.
Tsue said agency employees always have the board logo, a green water drop, on their uniforms, which are nearly always green but sometimes orange. Additionally, board employees visiting homes will always be wearing official City and County of Honolulu tags identifying them as Board of Water Supply employees, Tsue said.
Anyone observing suspicious activity is urged to call police at 911 or the board communications office at 748-5041.
