Got a call from a lady with a thick accent claiming that with new government energy grants of up to $3,000 a homeowner in Ontario can get a free Eco Energy assessment.
The website above for Ontario Ministry of Energy is outdated. There is a posting on Wikipedia addressing this – the site states it is unclear as to whether or not it is advertising.
There was a Federal Ministry of Natural Resources energy home retrofit program, that Ontario dropped out of in 2011; the program ended in June 2012 and the webpages have been Archived. There were prequalified vendors – but since the program is no longer active any company telemarketing and claiming to be part of this program is committing fraud. Calls seem to be originating from an East India/Pakistani call centre.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecoenergy
Other spoofed numbers include T: 1-905-581-8841; another spoofed number 'Ontario Eco Program';
289-800-1185
647-495-9013
1-800Notes.com shows lots of calls from this number over the past year – including one posting from a former business associate saying this is a scam.
I used to work with the Ontario Ministry of Energy, and had a close friend working in the Public Inquiries Centre. There is no valid company called ‘Ontario Eco Energy’ and no such program; and governments would never have companies direct-market to the public using the program name (if it was a legit rebate program, it would be done via the company - not pretending to offer expired rebates). This is clearly a scam, including those showing up at a homeowners address and trying to upsell equipment the homeowner doesn’t need!