Police issue scam alert for Duquesne Light customers

Pittsburgh Police issued a scam alert for Duquesne Light customers Thursday.

According to a release, a Penn Avenue business owner told detectives someone claiming to be from Duquesne Light called and threatened to shut off power immediately “unless the customer settled an unpaid balance.”

Police said the business owner was instructed by the scammer to purchase a prepaid credit card, call back and read off the numbers.

According to police, Duquesne Light will never call customers and say something like that.

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“We never call customers for payment with the threat of same-day termination of services,” a Duquesne Light spokesperson said.

Once the victim calls with the numbers on the card, that money is gone and cannot be retrieved, police said.

This is the first report of this scam, police said, but they also said activities like this come in waves.

Duquesne Light does not perform shutoffs on weekends, and it doesn’t ask customers to purchase any type of prepaid cards. The company said to follow these tips if a scammer comes to your door:

• Always ask to see employee identification.
• Look for a company logo on the person's uniform and vehicle.
• Call the utility company to verify the person's identification. The utility company will be able to tell you whether the person is an employee and whether they've dispatched a service call to your home or neighborhood.

Anyone who feels they have been targeted by a scam artist is asked to contact Duquesne Light at 1-888-393-7100.

Cox Media Group