Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina’s electric cooperatives are warning consumers that thieves posing as Duke Energy employees are trying to steal your money and personal information.
The scammers call customers and say they are “with Duke Energy in Wilmington,” and that they’re handling remote disconnections for cooperatives and other utilities. They warn that electricity will be disconnected unless they receive payment immediately. The scammers instruct the victims to purchase a Green Dot MoneyPak from a local store (sometimes Wal-Mart or CVS) and provide the confirmation number on the receipt to the caller to prevent disconnection.
None of North Carolina’s 26 electric cooperatives would ever call their members to obtain account or personal information. Additionally, Duke Energy never “handles remote connections” for cooperatives. If you ever doubt the identity of someone claiming to represent your electric cooperative over the phone, please hang up and call your cooperative’s office using the phone number listed on your bill or on the cooperative’s website.
North Carolina’s electric cooperatives urge members to be aware of this scam and ask that members share this information with family and friends to help put a stop to it.
These scams are impacting customers of all utilities. For recent fraud alerts from Duke Energy see this news release.
North Carolina’s electric cooperatives serve more than 2.5 million people in 93 of the state’s 100 counties.