How far do thieves go to steal internet cables? Some in Fort Worth dress like AT&T crews
Thieves who have been stealing internet cables from Fort Worth neighborhoods have started getting creative.
According to police, some have dressed as AT&T employees, wearing things like yellow safety vests and hard hats. They have used trucks or vans that appear to look like they’re from the company. If they go undetected, the fake workers can strip hundreds of feet of internet wiring from utility poles with the intent of harvesting the valuable copper inside.
The thieves cash in by selling the metal to scrap recyclers, sometimes well outside the city to avoid detection, while the homes and businesses in the targeted neighborhood are left without internet service for days or weeks.
“I tell people, imagine putting your phone in airplane mode and you don’t know when it’s going to come back on,” Fort Worth police Sgt. Anthony White told the Star-Telegram.
With cable thefts soaring, the Police Department is trying to crack down. So is AT&T, whose lines are frequently targeted because of their copper content, and Spectrum, whose lines don’t have copper but are still being stolen by thieves who think they do.
Investigators and utility providers want Texas lawmakers to enact stiffer penalties for those steal what they consider “critical infrastructure” in today’s internet-dependent world.
Are those really AT&T workers snipping my cables?
The best thing you can do if you see people cutting AT&T or other telecommunication cables is call 911, police said, even if you aren’t sure whether they’re thieves. Officers will come check it out.
“The real employees will have credentials,” White said. “They’ll have everything to identify themselves as AT&T employees.”
Newer neighborhoods in Fort Worth were built with underground utility lines, but hundreds of older subdivisions have power poles that also carry communication lines.
White is over the Police Department’s metal theft unit, which began in 2006. For years, the unit was busy investigating cases of people stealing catalytic converters from cars for their metal components like platinum, palladium and rhodium.
But in 2023, the Texas legislature passed the “Deputy Darren Almendarez Act” in honor of a Harris County sheriff’s deputy who was fatally shot while trying to stop men from stealing his catalytic converter. The bill makes it a felony to steal or unlawfully possess the engine part, which could land someone in jail for up to two years.
Since then, more thieves have turned their attention toward internet cables. Fort Worth has seen a 545% increase, with a total of 142 cases reported over a recent two-year period.
North Texas is second only to Los Angeles for cable thefts over the past year, White said. Many of the heists have been in Dallas, but White said Fort Worth is seeing an increase, particularly over the last seven months.
The soaring price of copper isn’t helping. This week, prices skyrocketed on news of President Trump’s intentions to levy tariffs on metal imports. Copper futures were $4.60 a pound Wednesday.
What are Fort Worth police doing to stop internet cable thieves?
Just as legislation helped crack down on catalytic converters thefts, White believes similar measures could help curb internet cable thefts that knock out critical infrastructure.
“When I say critical infrastructure, that involves hospitals, government offices, every person’s business, every person’s home, 911 services,” White said.
The Police Department, along with representatives from AT&T and Spectrum, are urging lawmakers to stiffen the penalties for cable theft. While a majority of the cable being stolen is AT&T, Spectrum is also being hit hard despite not having copper in its fiber optic cable, White said.
While thieves may not make off with any copper by cutting Spectrum cable, it still impacts internet service in that area, White said. Depending on the severity of the damage, it could take crews days to get everything back up.
“Some of these guys are taking 700 feet,” White said. “Then you have to splice all this together, get crews out there and some of these areas are in pretty rough terrain.”
Fort Worth police are also working with scrap metal yards to help crack down on thefts.
While they have Fort Worth yards covered, White said thieves will steal cable from Cowtown and sell it in another city. He would like to form a multi-city team to regulate and monitor copper theft since the crime is on the rise locally.
“I’d like to see more jurisdictions get involved in regulating and monitoring copper theft,” White said. “It’d be great to see a task force effort at some point in the future.”
What is AT&T doing to help?
AT&T is offering big reward money for info on wire thefts in North Texas.
The Dallas-based company is offering $10,000 for information that leads to “arrest and conviction for copper cable thefts or the attempted sale or purchase of stolen copper cable” in the Metroplex. The reward is valid until Nov. 1.
To report copper theft, the company says to call local law enforcement and AT&T’s investigations team at 800-807‐4205.
For those who are experiencing internet issues, AT&T said to check their outage status on the smart home manager app or on its website. Customers can also call 800-288-2020 for help.
