Tennessee electric cooperatives are warning the public about a misleading third-party website that claims to help start electric and gas service before collecting deposits that never reach a utility provider.

Last month, a man moving to the service area of Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative searched online for power providers and called a phone number that appeared in the search results. During the conversation, a representative told him to pay $400 and then go to the co-op’s Centerville headquarters to fill out paperwork.

While the site indicated the funds were going to MLEC, the co-op never received them, according to Member Service Manager Vanessa Clayborn.

“Oddly enough, the site gave our address to sign the paperwork,” Clayborn said. When the man arrived at the co-op and realized what happened, he contacted his credit card issuer and canceled his card and then met with Clayborn.

“I asked whether the $400 charge had been processed, and the member said he was unsure because he had acted quickly,” she said. “He was too upset to confirm whether the transaction had gone through.”

If needed, MLEC will help the new member dispute the charge with the credit card company, Clayborn said.

In response, the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association alerted the state’s co-ops about the misleading website. TECA Senior Vice President Trent Scott urged consumers to work directly with their co-op for payments, service requests and other business. TECA also filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

“If you have a question, call the co-op,” he said.

To learn more about the website, MLConnect, MLEC’s broadband subsidiary, examined the site’s domain and coding. They were unable to find a registered address, and other business information appeared to be redacted and hidden by the site’s owner, Clayborn said.

“The site is pretty official-looking, so there’s no reason to think this is limited to Tennessee,” Scott said.

He also said that co-ops should consider investing in their websites’ search engine optimization performance to improve online visibility.

“When someone searches for your co-op, your site should show up at the top of the page. It just prevents your members from getting taken by scams like this,” he said.

“Make sure your website is functioning as it should and showing up in search results like it should. You’re protecting your members when you do this.”