The Florida Attorney General’s
Office is warning residents to be aware of what they call the “power off’ fraud,
where someone claiming to be from your local power companies calls and says
that your electricity will be cut off if you don’t pay your bill immediately.
This fraud has happened
locally – Oyster Radio has been called at least twice.
The call starts as a recorded
message informing you that your power will be shut off in 45 minutes unless you
pay your bill immediately
You will then get transferred
to a live person threatening disconnection unless immediate payment is made in
person.
These scams can be very
believable – the person may have just enough information about your account to
make you think it is for real.
Duke Energy is reminding its
customers that employees will never call a customer at home seeking any
personal information, including credit card numbers.
If you do get one of the
calls, resist the urge to act immediately, no matter how urgent the
message is, do not call the number back that is provided.
Instead, call the Duke Energy
Customer Service Number on your electric bill and you can verify your payments
and report the scam call.
And Never Give Out Personal
Information to someone you don’t know.
Providing a credit or debit
card or purchasing gift cards and reading the codes on the back over the phone
to a person that you don’t know is a big red flag.
No legitimate business or utility
will call a customer and demand payment immediately over the phone by any of
these means.
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