Scam artists threaten to turn off utilities if payment not made

Local businesses have reported receiving calls this morning from a person identifying themselves as a technician from the Ponca City Utilities.

The caller says the businesses have 30 minutes to call and make a payment and provides them with two telephone numbers. The first number is a local business not associated with the Ponca City Utility office.

The second number is answered by a male with a strong dialect who identifies himself as an employee of a utilities collection agency.

The Ponca City Utilities office does not make collection calls or threaten to turn utilities off within 30 minutes if a bill is not paid. This is a scam. Please do not provide any banking or credit card information to anyone over the phone that calls for collections.