Wake Forest man accused of defrauding Duke Energy out of almost $500K using living, dead customers
A Wake Forest man was arrested Tuesday following a fraud investigation affecting Duke Energy accounts.
According to a news release, on July 22, 2025, Duke Energy representatives reached out to the Wake County Sheriff’s Office for assistance in a case in which numerous accounts were opened in the name of living and deceased customers without their knowledge.
Duke Energy said the accounts’ fraudulent and unreported activities totaled in about $495,904.62 in losses for the company.
After an extensive investigation, the WCSO obtained warrants for 36-year-old Rafael Williams. He was charged with:
- Four counts of obtaining property by false pretense valued at $100,000 or more
- One count of obtaining property by false pretense
- Five counts of financial transaction fraud
- Five counts of accessing computers
- 19 counts of identity theft
The warrants state that starting in October 2022, Williams used computers, phones and tablets to manipulate the company’s online payment system and create false online payments. For each of the five counts of accessing these devices, he is accused of falsely paying amounts of:
- $100,366,88
- $100,234.73
- $100,800.38
- $100,991.20
- $93,511.43
It’s unclear if these accounts were linked for energy usage at his listed home on Richland Crest Lane in Wake Forest. The Zillow listing for his house, that can be found on the arrest warrants, says that the house was last sold in October 2024 for $385,000.
Williams is also accused of using more than 20 different transaction cards to access and move money between accounts in order to create false payments and obtain energy from Duke Energy.
Across all these charges, authorities are holding Williams on a bond totaling $2,250,000. Williams asked for a lower bond, claiming he’s in his last year of college.
“I’m missing days,” he said. I’m doing what I can to get back to that.”
A judge assigned Williams a public defender in court on Wednesday. The judge had stern warnings for Williams, saying if he’s convicted of all his charges, he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison.
The judge noted “this is a complicated case, with a long investigation,” noting Williams has “massive exposure.”
Speaking about the charges, Williams said, “I don’t even own a credit card.”
The judge reminded Williams that he’s not accused of having a credit card, he’s accused of stealing others’ identities and cards and using them to defraud Duke Energy.
On Wednesday, Duke Energy also provided a statement.
“We continue to support the Wake County Sheriff’s Office in [its] ongoing investigation of this matter and are contacting property owners associated with these activities to update their accounts with us,” the statement reads. “We believe this issue affects a relatively small number of accounts, all of which have been identified and are being notified directly through a letter.
“If, however, you are ever unsure of the authenticity of a call or solicitation claiming to be from Duke Energy, you should contact Duke Energy directly to confirm.”
Williams is due in court again on Nov. 5.
Williams’ previous criminal history
According to the state Department of Adult Corrections offender portal, Williams is not new to charges related to fraudulent activity. Over the course of several months in 2017, he was charged with misdemeanor offenses of writing worthless checks. In the same year, he was also charged with obtaining property by false pretenses. He was sentenced to community service for these charges in 2020.
