The Colony Police And Corinth Electricity Provider Warn Of Holiday Weekend Phone Scams
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The Colony Police Department said Friday scammers may be contacting residents claiming their identity has been stolen, in what they consider an attempt to obtain personal information or solicit money.
The scammers are using technology known as "caller ID spoofing" to display the TCPD non-emergency phone number on the victim's caller ID.
The Colony Police encourage the community to be suspicious of unsolicited calls from anyone asking for personal information or money to pay outstanding warrants or fines, as this is not the correct police procedure.
Anyone who receives such a call should hang up immediately and report the call to the proper authorities. Do not engage the caller in conversation and never give out personal information.
Anyone who has received such a call and provided either personal identification information (such Social Security or driver's license numbers) or given payment by any means, should file a police report in the jurisdiction of their residence.
Meantime, In Corinth, CoServ Electric has notified its members and customers of an elaborate utility phone scam targeting North Texas residents over the Memorial Day weekend.
The scam works like this: A utility customer is contacted and told that their account is overdue and their electric service will be disconnected within the next hour if an immediate payment is not made via credit, debit or prepaid money card.
The twist with this particular scam is that the customer who expresses doubt about the legitimacy of the call is encouraged to call a number – 1-800-565-9479 – to confirm its origin.
When this number is called, a professional-sounding answering system picks up and routes customers to what are supposedly CoServ agents but, in fact, are actually part of the scammer's operation.
According to the Utilities United Against Scams, scammers have been known to be especially active over holiday weekends to scare consumers into paying them.
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