SULLIVAN Co., Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — A Sullivan resident received a call from someone claiming to be from Duke Energy, demanding money immediately or her power would be disconnected.
Rick Burger, a manager at Duke Energy, said they see an increase in scams during the winter and around holidays.
“When they call you it looks like a local number. Right now with the cold weather, I really believe our customers and people are being targeted because they do not want to be cut off in cold weather and scammers are really threatening people out there,” he said.
Scams are an issue that local utility companies and law enforcement combat year round.
Sullivan County Detective Ron Elliott said it can be very hard to track scammers down due to evolving technology.
“It’s very hard to track them. They use different phone numbers and some of those numbers look legitimate,” Elliott began. “They use local phone numbers that make you think it’s all legitimate. So when you try to trace back to those phone numbers, they might come back to a citizen in the county or the state and they have no idea what you’re talking about as far as that goes.”
Det. Elliott said in most cases scammers will try and target elderly members of the community.
“They do their homework. They can find that kind of information out and that’s who they usually target through phone calls and social media pages,” he noted.
According to Burger, sometimes scammers will even come to your doorstep.
But he said there are steps customers can take before it gets too far.
“When you get those type of calls there are two people you need to call, Duke Energy and then call local law enforcement. These scammers are scaring people and telling them you’ve got to pay this now or you’ll be shut off today and we don’t do business like that,” Burger concluded.
