Police say fake Duke Energy calls are scam

LELAND, NC (WWAY) — Are there scammers in Leland?

One man says it’s true, and Tuesday night the Leland Police Department warned people about the issue.

Skip Witkofsky got a panicked call from his wife saying that Duke Energy was going to cut their power off if they didn’t pay their bill. But the problem was Witkofsky said he didn’t owe Duke Energy any money. That’s when he said he realized this was a scam.

Witkofsky said the scammers wanted him to get a prepaid credit card from a nearby grocery store and call them back with more than $1,000. He didn’t do that, and instead called police.

“What I should have done first?” Witkofsky said. “What I did last was pick up a bill from Duke Energy, call their billing, give them your account number and they say zero balance.”

Duke Energy said that it has heard of this scam before, and that what Witkofsky did is what everyone should do.

We called the alleged scammers with a fake number. Whoever was on the other line was ready to take all our fake information.

When we finally revealed we were a news station, the person on the other line went silent. And that’s when vulgar rap music started playing, and then they hung up.

If you have any questions about whether or not you’re actually speaking with Duke Energy, hang up and get your most recent bill and call the phone number on the bill.