Just one day after the Town of Smithfield announced that 800 customers didn’t receive a utility bill in the month of May, representing about 20 percent of their customers, the town now says businesses should be on the alert about a telephone utility bill scam.
Public Information Officer Tim Kerigan said the Town of Smithfield received several phone calls Thursday alerting them of a telephone scam targeting utility bill customers. All of those contacted were businesses and not actually Town of Smithfield utility customers, but were Duke Energy Progress customers. However, everyone should be aware that they may be a target.
The scam starts with a phone call from someone who claims to be a representative of the Town of Smithfield. They provide a toll-free number and threaten that power will be disconnected if they do not call this number and make a payment within 30 minutes. When the provided number is dialed, the individual answering the call identifies themselves as the Town of Smithfield. This is not the case.
If you receive one of these calls, do not provide any personal information and do not call the toll-free number. Instead, hang up and call the Town of Smithfield immediately at 919-934-2116 Extension1101.
