GREENSBORO, N.C. — Gas, electricity, water. Utilities are a necessity and because we all have to have them scammers are using them to get to you.
There are three top scams to warn you about.
#1 The call your service is going to be disconnected right now!
“When it comes to disconnections, we will contact you several times. It will not be a surprise. So if you receive a call like that, just hang up,” said Keith Richardson of Duke Energy.
#2 You need to pay your bill right now and you need to do it with….
“We never dictate how people pay their bill, so if someone is saying you need to go get a prepaid credit card or use cryptocurrency, that's a red flag,” said Richardson.
#3 Hey, you’re getting a refund! We just need some information…
“People say they've received calls from someone who is pretending to be Duke Energy who says they're offering a refund, we don't do that either,” said Richardson.
But what utilities are doing, they're sending out emails about how to spot scams. I got two of them today.
About 150 companies around the nation teamed up for what they call Utility Scam Awareness Day on November 15.
It's needed. This year alone, Duke Energy got 77,000 complaints about scam calls, texts, and emails.
“We have a scam reporting tool on our website. We can't track down every scammer but we use it to see what the latest techniques and trends are to educate folks so they don't become the next victim. So it's important if you do receive a call like that, please let us know,” said Richardson.
Whenever you get a call, a text, or an email from any utility, credit card, bank, or Amazon, the best thing to do is to go online and look at your account or find your last bill and call the number that's on it. This is the only way to know you're really dealing with the company you do business with.