Scammers impersonate FPL, swindle hundreds of dollars

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A local business is warning customers after they said a scammer called them saying it was the power company and knew all their information.

Kaye Price works at Advanced Precision and said recently she was scammed out of $1,750.

“I got a phone call from an individual who said he was from FPL and that the call was being recorded for accuracy and you could hear the beep in the background, so I thought it was being recorded. He had a work order to shut off our utilities for non-payment. I asked him which account number, he had the account number.”

Price said the business never missed a payment, so she checked to see if they had sent a check and saw that one had cleared. So, Price called the person back on the 800-number he gave her.

“He said I can see that payment online but it’s been misapplied to the wrong account, so in order for you to not have your utilities shut off today, you need to pay this. And then you’ll get a refund later, so I gave the call to the owner.”

The man insisted they had to go get money cards and pay the $1,750 bill immediately or their power would be shutoff. So they did. Price said they waited a few weeks but the refund was never credited to their account, so she called FPL and was told she had been scammed. Price said what bothers her most about this is the scammer knew all of the business’ information.

“What’s really scary is they had our account numbers, our payments, past payments we’ve made. Everything, everything. So the information, it’s a data leak from FPL and they don’t want to take responsibility.”

WINK News Call for Action contacted FPL about this case and asked if they had investigated a possible data breach.

We were told they could confirm there was no data breach or leak internally. When we asked if they could elaborate, Tara Tyson, Associate Communication Specialist with FPL said, “This is not information we have to share with you.”

Tyson also said they investigate every scam they are made aware of but could not tell us how many cases they have investigated or the outcome of those cases.

If you get a call similar to this, the best thing to do is hang up. Then look for the FPL number on your bill or online and call that. Even if your called ID says it is FPL, ignore that because the number may be spoofed.

If you get a call like this, file a complaint here.