SAN ANTONIO — On Jan. 18, a man showed up at Mike Everett's door and claimed to be a Spectrum employee. He said he needed to enter Everett's home to "verify" his Spectrum services.
Everett had a few problems with that.
First, Everett didn't actually use any Spectrum services at all. He gets internet from another provider. Second, the man didn't have any identification and refused to give his name. Third, the man was driving a white pickup without any Spectrum logos. Everett said "no," and the man then changed his request.
"He switched to, 'I need to see the pedestal,'" Everett said.
Everett works in IT and knows what a pedestal is: It's the green box in the front of some yards that serve as a connection point for cable service. He also knew he didn't have one.
"I asked, 'do you have a Spectrum ID?' And he said 'no'. He just walked off," Everett said. "Just red flags everywhere. Something was not right."
Everett then called the Spectrum Security Operations Center at (833) 277-7762 and asked if there were any techs working in the area. He said Spectrum didn't know of any.
The next day, another homeowner in the neighborhood next door had a similar encounter. The homeowner, who asked to stay anonymous, provided video to KENS 5 showing men getting out of a white SUV and going door to door to talk to residents. A man knocked on the homeowner's door and asked to access the "node" in the homeowner's backyard.
The homeowner, who previously worked for Spectrum, knew they didn't have a connection point in the backyard and told the man to "Get the hell off my property." The man claiming to be a Spectrum employee had no visible identification and the vehicle he was using also had no Spectrum logos.
KENS 5 reached out to Spectrum on Friday to ask what homeowners should expect from Spectrum Employees, and Senior Regional Communications Director Brian Anderson provided the following response:
"All contractors working on Spectrum’s behalf should have magnetic signage on their vehicles identifying them as such. All Spectrum employees and contractors also carry Spectrum identifications cards and should be wearing Spectrum logo apparel. Safety is a top priority for us, so anyone who has a question regarding the identity of a contractor should err on the side of caution and contact Spectrum or local law enforcement to ensure the request for access to their property is legitimate"
Additionally, the San Antonio Police Department told KENS 5 they are always willing to send an officer to investigate someone who is trying to access your property.
"We encourage people to screen the door when anybody rings the doorbell at their home. Either by their smart phone/ring app/door eye. Make sure anyone who says they are from a company shows you their proper credentials, an invoice, and if they are still not sure, they can always call police who will investigate the situation," an SAPD spokesperson said via email.
