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CINCINNATI (WXIX) -One Norwood business owner was scammed out of $3,600 by someone claiming to pay in Bitcoin. <\/p>\n
Jorge Cortes says that he received what he thought was a Duke Energy bill for his business, Cortes Barbershop. <\/p>\n
His first thought was to pay the bill, but it was not that easy. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe said you can make a payment,\u201d Cortes said. \u201cThey gave me this address to reach where this bitcoin is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cortes says that he had never heard of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time I did the first transaction, he walked me through. He showed me this, code, I guess I was going to be able to go through with the transaction, and it did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then scammer who was speaking to Cortes said that he needed to transfer him to his boss and while he was the phone, he was told to pay more money.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis boss was like; we\u2019re going to have to ask you for a deposit because you are three months behind,\u201d Cortes said. <\/p>\n
About a few hours later, Cortes realized that he was not behind on his payments because he received the real Duke Energy bill in the mail. <\/p>\n
Duke Energy spokesperson, Sally Thelen says that Duke Energy will never call someone<\/a> to tell them about a power outage or to ask for an account number. <\/p>\n Scammers typically look up the company\u2019s name and number and act like a bill collector, not asking for personal information, just money.<\/p>\n \u201cThey think, oh, they\u2019re probably not going to be on top of their bills, and we\u2019ll call them when it\u2019s a busy time if they\u2019re a restaurant or diner with a room full of diners where they can\u2019t stop serving to go and check a bill, and certainly they pray on folks like that, and it\u2019s unfortunate,\u201d Thelen said. <\/p>\n See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you <\/i>click here<\/i><\/a> to report it.<\/i><\/p>\n Copyright 2022 WXIX. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n