Some Troy residents reported receiving calls yesterday warning them to pay with a credit card over the phone or have their utilities cut off.

But Troy Utilities assistant general manager Mike Davis said the utilities department will never call customers and threaten to cut their power off if they don’t pay over the phone.

“This is just another way for people to try to steal money from people instead of going out and making a decent living,” Davis said.

Davis explained that the utilities department got a call from a customer Wednesday that they had received a call from somebody posing as Troy Utilities telling them they must pay $5,000 over the phone with a credit card or lose power immediately.

Officials at the department then overheard another person saying they received a similar call from the same number.

Making the scam even more legitimate is the fact that the calls came on the day that the department actually does cut off power for nonpayment. The scammers did not have access though to know who was on the list to have their power cutoff, Davis said, as those who received the phone call were not on that list.

Davis said this has never happened before to his knowledge with Troy utilities.

“I’ve been here for a while and I don’t remember a scam where they attempted to coerce the customer, especially the day we cut people off,” Davis said.

The City took to social media to warn customers about the scam and reported it to the Troy Police Department.

Customers who have received a similar phone call are asked to immediately contact 3-1-1 to report the issue.