Danville Utilities is warning its customers about a payment scam involving a threat to disconnect service if payment of their utility bill is not made immediately. Businesses are the target.
In this scam, a business receives a phone call from an individual falsely claiming to be with the Danville Utilities Department. The individual is threatening to disconnect service if the business does not make immediate payment. The business is asked to provide a credit card number in order to make payment.
A business answering service alerted Danville Utilities today that they were receiving calls involving the threat to disconnect service.
Danville Utilities does not contact customers by phone and demand payment. Instead, customers who have delinquent accounts receive multiple notifications by letter from Danville Utilities over the course of several weeks prior to electric service disconnection — never just a single notification before disconnection.
Utility bill payment scams are not new. Guard against fraud. Never provide a Social Security number, credit card number or banking information to anyone requesting it unless you initiated the contact and know the identity of the person with whom you are speaking.
If you receive a call from someone you do not know and who is urging you to make a payment to Danville Utilities, capture the phone number and then hang up and contact Central Collections at 434-799-5125 or visit the Charles H. Harris Financial Service Center, which is located at 311 Memorial Drive.
