Burglary featuring fake Charter 'Spectrum' van only the latest in wave of installer-imposter crime

Continuing the cable industry's place in the nexus of residential crime, police in Holmen, Wis. suspect burglars are using a fake Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR) installer van to perpetrate their crime spree. 

Fake Charter van depiction based on witness accounts. Source: News8000.com

Police, who are working with Charter, are asking for the public's help in locating the van, which was seen in the area of a local daytime burglary on March 19.

The van includes the name "Spectrum" on the side in arched, rainbow lettering, with the brand "Charter" just below that. As the photos included in a local news report show, this looks nothing like the actual vans Charter uses to deploy its Spectrum cable TV, broadband and voice services. 

The Wisconsin incident is only the latest occurrence of a burglary suspect using a fake cable-company identity to do masquerade as legitimate denizens of a particular neighborhood. 

In 2012, Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) warned residents in nearby Greenfield, Wis. to be on the lookout for suspicious installers posing as TWC employees. 

Also in 2012, police in Fort Bend, Ind. said three fake Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) workers attacked a woman in her home.

And in 2013, police arrested two former cable installers in Los Angeles, who used their former job status to pose as technicians and gain entry to the homes of former customers. 

For more:
- read this WKBT-TV news report

Related articles:
TWC techs in Austin safe after gun threat
Operators pull installation in-house, begin vetting techs amid a wave of contractor crime
Former Charter installer accused of selling illegal cable takes plea deal