this number just called me claiming to be FPL a "Richard Johnson" telling me that we did not pay our 3 months power light bill. first they called from a NY number and then I told him what does NY have to do with Florida. we called FPL from their website number to varify and the operator told us it's a fraud number calling. but be careful somehow they manage to call from, the legit FPL number which is 305-442-8770 in the caller ID. we even asked this richard johnson to verify our account and he couldn't
Escribo mi comentario en español porque hay muchos hispanos que caen en estas trampas. El tipo dijo llamarse Manuel de Jesus y nos comunicó que estabamos atrasados en tres meses en nuestra cuenta de electricidad, lo cual es imposible, porque el monto es cargado directamente a nuestra cuenta corriente.. De todas maneras insistió y nos amenazó con que nos iban a cortar el servicio por un mes. Nosotros dimos cuenta a Duke, pero dicen que no pueden hacer nada. Yo estoy seguro que se trata de un empleado de la propia compañía, porque llaman de los propios teléfonos de las empresas de servicios.
The same thing happened to us. From the start I knew it was a fraudulent call because of the telephone area code (718) which belongs to areas of Queens,N,Y. and heavily populated by spanish speaking people. The caller wanted the payment to be made right away and when asked how much was due, he could not answer...instead he asked what was the amount I paid, I told him I had forgotten and he said he needed that information to verify the amount. At this point I told to go to hell.
This happen to my parents today, my mother not knowing about fraud and a elderly women was told the same thing..that her bill was not paid in 3 months and they had her checks. They gave her instructions to get a prepaid card and pay 373.00 or her Light will be turn off within 45mins. So she panic and she did it...she did file a police report. He did say he was from Duke energy...
Persons calling passing themselves as Duke Energy Representatives, called my parents. They threatened to turn off their electricity unless paid money due. Even though their bill is electronically drafted each month, the scammers insisted that the last two payments had not processed correctly. My elder parent(s), also panic as others have, and paid them with some sort of pre-paid card(s). When my parent questioned the phone number shown on the caller ID, (718)304-0274, they offered to call back. When they called back, somehow they were able to manipulate to show "DUKE" ENERGY on the caller ID? The scam was reported to the Orlando Police Dept. Also reported to Duke Energy. They are aware, but say hackers are able to get a hold of plenty customer information, and they have not been able to stop or catch the bad guys!!
Ps. I noticed the website has a fraud alert, however most of the victims are elder, and they generally do not use the internet, so they are not being made aware of these alerts. Please write to Duke Energy to ask them to include this notice on the paper statements also.