The City of Alcoa issued a warning today to its utility customers of a possible scam operation after a customer reported a fraudulent telephone call to collect money on an account.

The customer received a Saturday call from a person identifying themselves as Jay Shepard who falsely claimed to be with the City of Alcoa Utilities. Giving the customer’s service address, the supposed employee advised the customer their last payment check had been returned and their service would be disconnected the following day, Sunday, unless immediate payment was made over the phone with a credit card. The caller provided a bogus payment amount. Becoming suspicious afterwards, the customer tried to retrieve the caller’s number and found it blocked.

The City of Alcoa does not telephone customers requesting credit card numbers for utility payments. Any offsite utility payment to the City of Alcoa is made only via the automated telephone payment system or by the online payment system on the City’s web pages. Again no one from the City would call a customer and take a credit card payment over the phone. The City of Alcoa only disconnects utility service for nonpayment during regular business hours Monday through Friday following written notification. Customers who receive a call demanding immediate cash, credit card or other payment of any kind should simply refuse. Customers who then have any question about their utility account status are encouraged to call the City of Alcoa at 380-4700 the next business day.

Citizens are asked to report any suspicious phone calls from people identifying themselves as a City of Alcoa representative to the City of Alcoa at 380-4700 or the City of Alcoa Police Department at 981-4111.