Just ran across a letter from this outfit with a Katy, TX address. I received a form letter with just my address (no company name) in Feb 2015 which states "Our records indicate that you may have executed an oil and gas lease that we at Percheron Energy LLC were contracted to obtain. We are writing to inform you that on January 15, 2015, a computer was stolen from one of our offices that we believe contained your personal information, including your name, social security number, address, and telephone number. As a conscientious member of the oil and gas industry, we take very seriously our responsibility to safeguard all sensitive and confidential information provided to us, and we are coordinating with law enforcement to investigate this incident."
The letter went on to encourage me to enroll in protection services for their company by going to the site www.protectmyid.com/redeem and the letter went on to state "We hope you will take full advantage of the resources we have provided at no cost to you." I never pursued it.
I have never received any income from this outfit so it appeared from my end to be a scam. Did anyone else receive such a letter and if so, what action did you take?
Percheron LLC is a leasing agent for various companies. If you signed a lease with Percheron and received a bonus, then you would have provided your social security number to that company for 1099. As to whether the letter was really sent from Percheron, you can call that company and ask. It is always a good idea to confirm and never to simply go to an email address and provide your personal information. It is also a very good idea to enroll in a credit monitoring service. There are a number of companies which monitor activity in all three agencies and alert you when new cards are issued, there are inquiries about your credit, address change is made, etc.
That service appears to be owned by Experian, according to a Google search. The wording is also standard data theft notification language. However, do your own research before clicking on it.
I never signed a lease with Percheron and don't use a SSN but a federal tax ID number for my company instead. They either have bad records, were baiting royalty owners, or this was a scam. Some guy by the name of Trent Oglesby CEO signed the form letter but no phone numbers to the company anywhere. I think I will contact the company via phone numbers I uncover just to poke the bear.
WOW! A scam using a Land Services Company's name?
And I think the legit Percheron is Percheron LLC, not Percheron Energy LLC.
Sounds like Percheron might need to contact the State's Attorney General's Office.
Not according to the website for Percheron LLC there is a pulldown section (subdivision) for energy...yes, the Katy, TX address matched the header on the form letter. Underneath the Trent Oglesby name is CEO and under that Percheron LLC.
I didn't look that deeply into the website, but I am certain that Mr. Oglesby could either clarify what the letter was all about or, if he did not send it, would very much like to know about it.
Call him!
Yes, I do plan to call him. I will post what I find out.
I'm sure we all look forward to hearing what he has to say.
If Mr. Caldwell is correct (and he usually is) and the company suggested in the letter is owned by Experian, then the letter might very well turn out to be legit and Mr. Oglesby was simply suggesting a way to address the breach of their records.
Oh, and if you have not signed a Lease with Percheron, it could have been handled by Percheron as a Land Services Company, but with the Lease taken under the Client company's name.
Either way, you have been wise to post your concerns. There are some really twisted people out there.
OK.....I did make contact with Percheron in Katy, TX. Talked with a woman who is head of land administration there and she verified they did have a computer theft early last year after moving into their current location. The form letter I received was approved by their legal dept but obviously they didn't want any phone calls directly so they hired Experian to send out the letter. The paperwork behind the form letter was essentially a sales pitch to get royalty owners to commit to a one year free subscription to Experian. The woman did tell me that the properties they were involved with in my case were Pioneer, EOG and Fuse. A royalty owner would have had to research on the internet to find the phone number for Percheron as the form letter did not provide it...nor did it provide any location for the royalty holdings...either by state, county, or legal description. She seemed very feisty and bothered that I had called. I expressed to her that the appearance of the form letter was suspicious in appearance and content. Anybody can sign a letter and claim they are that person identified as the CEO (which in this case was legit). The lesson learned is to always follow up on any questionable correspondence you receive to verify it's authenticity, regardless of how much time has lapsed. Go directly to the source, not a third party such as Experian.