Utility scams awareness day: what you need to know

Reporter: Asha Patel
Published: Updated:

Wednesday is utility scams awareness day. These types of scams target customers by going door-to-door, sending phone calls or texts and using false information online.

Often times they threaten to disconnect a utility unless they receive payment.

Florida Power and Light (FPL) has some do’s and don’ts to help keep customers from getting duped.

After speaking with FPL on Wednesday, they said thousands of Floridians fall for these scams every year.

Go to their website to learn how to protect yourself. These tips can be useful even if you don’t use FPL.

Things like watching out for those phone calls—scammers can manipulate the name to appear as FPL on your caller ID.

Also, make sure to delete texts and emails asking for payment.

There are some ways you can spot a scam, but sometimes, these scams seem legitimate, and people fall for them.

The Better Business Bureau shared some examples of these scams with us: One woman lost $1,879, and the scammers were really trying to get a little over $2,000 from her.

She said someone called her, saying they worked for Duke Energy and knew how much her past-due amount was. They said her account would be disconnected, so she paid them.

Then they called her the next day, saying she had another bill and that she would be disconnected if she didn’t pay it, so she paid that one as well.

Shelley Ragsdale, the FPL lead communication strategist, said, “Scammers are getting more innovative and more common this time of year, especially since people are online shopping. Their guard may be down just a little bit.”

If you have FPL and believe you have been targeted, you can go to the FPL website and click here to report a scam.

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