Are two men posing as United Utilities workers to gain access to your house?

A photo of two men is circulating across social media that warn readers that they are posing as workers from United Utilities in order to gain entry to your home.

An example pulled from social media can be seen below

***WARNING!!!***
These two men are going around blackpool, knocking on doors, claiming to be from United Utilities and asking for entry to your home to check your taps for possible leaks!
DO NOT let them in, they ARE NOT from United Utilities!!!
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS AS THEY ARE DANGEROUS!!!

While a popular example quotes Blackpool, other versions targeting other areas (primarily across the UK) include Kirklees, Winsford, Beeston, Middleton, Rishton, Stafford, St Helens, Connahs Quay and Seaham.

If you haven’t got the joke yet, let us fill you in. These two men are not posing as United Utilities workers. They are the actors who played the bumbling robbers in the Home Alone movie – Joe Pesci (left) and Daniel Stern (right) who played Harry and Marv respectively.

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In that movie, Joe Pesci’s character Harry posed as a police officer to gain entry into the McAlister household, and they drove around neighborhood in a “Plumbing & Heating” van as cover. Collectively the pair were know as the “Wet Bandits” in the movie. It is likely that this started as a joke, but since the original Home Alone movie aired in 1990, both actors may not be recognisable to many, leading many social media users to believe that the warning is genuine, while many others clearly did, in fact, get the joke…

James writes…

They came to my house last year when I was on holiday with my family lucky my son was home

and Wayne had some good advice for readers…

Type AMEN and they won’t come to an area near you

A photo of the actors from the Home Alone film can be seen below.

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Other variants…

Different versions have spread too, each making slight changes to the claim. Some replaced United Utilities with “a gas company”…

***WARNING!!!***
These two men are going around, knocking on doors and claiming to be from the Gas Company and asking for entry to your home to check for possible leaks!
DO NOT let them in, they ARE NOT from the Gas Company!!!
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS AS THEY ARE DANGEROUS!!!

While some opted with the council…

***WARNING!!!***
These two men are going around Glastonbury, knocking on doors, claiming to be from Mendip Council and asking for entry to your home to check your taps for possible leaks!
DO NOT let them in, they ARE NOT from Mendip Council !!!
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS AS THEY ARE DANGEROUS!!!

Some assert the pair are posing as plumbers…

***WARNING!!!***
These two men are going around Perth suburbs , knocking on doors, claiming to be from a plumbing company and asking for entry to your home to check your taps for possible leaks!
DO NOT let them in, they ARE NOT plumbers!!!
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS AS THEY ARE DANGEROUS!!!