DETROIT – Calls from scammers to Metro-Detroit residents started nearly three years ago. In the calls, scammers claiming to be DTE are telling residents that unless the customer pays them immediately with a pre-paid cash card, their power will be turned off.
Ann Marie Rockoy recently got a call from a scammer who told her that her bill was delinquent. When she called the numer back, the message sounded just like DTE. "It seemed so real," Rockov said.
The scammer would say that they would need the cash to be put on a card, and that they would not accept payment at any DTE office.
Rockoy caught on quickly that this was another new, more sophisticated twist in that old scam.
DTE urges customers to remember that you get a call from the if you get a call from the utility, the caller ID will say DTE Energy and they will never need you to give them your account number and never, ever will they tell you to hit up a drugstore for a cash card.