A technical issue caused customers of the Fort Frances Power Corp. (FFPC) and Atikokan Hydro to receive an email Tuesday morning that informed them they had been signed up for service by the Synergy North utility and asked them to reset their passwords by clicking a link to the FFPC website.
The email sent by Synergy North welcomed customers to the program, advising them that “a $30 set up/transfer fee will be added to your first bill” and that “a security deposit is also required and will be applied to your first bill.”
Later Tuesday morning, FFPC apologized for the confusion and posted to its social media that it had been “notified by Synergy North, one of our service providers, that a technical issue resulted in an automated email being sent in error to some utility customers this morning.”
“If you received an unexpected email regarding a program enrollment, please disregard it. No action is required, and the email does not affect your Fort Frances Power Corporation account or services.”
Synergy North spokesperson Lesley Racco said the issue had been identified and that the automated emails were stopped shortly after they began being sent.
“Earlier this morning, Synergy North’s online customer portal inadvertently sent out a welcome email, to our customers, some active and some inactive, welcoming them to Synergy North. Obviously, this was sent in error,” Racco told The Times.
“It doesn’t require any action from our customers; no information or personal information was compromised. We apologize for any confusion or frustration this may have caused, and we’re taking a look at our processes to make sure it doesn’t happen in the future.”
The email, which originated from FFPC’s legitimate email address and contained accurate account numbers, was triggered by the error at Synergy North, which delivers some operational support and backend services to FFPC.
Many scam emails seek to impersonate utilities such as FFPC in an attempt to fool users into revealing security information or fraudulently making payments to bad actors—this was not one of those.’
However, it did concern some customers by asking for proof of a credit score over 700 to be sent to Synergy North or a credit reference letter from another utility—as many utilities typically demand of new customers—and providing instructions for automatic bank withdrawals and equal billing.
Racco said customers will be receiving a further email clarifying the error.
“We encourage customers, if they have any questions or are concerned, just to email or call either us or Fort Frances Power.”
