The Benton Police Department wants to alert residents to a scam that has started circulating recently.
The scam involves individuals calling businesses and residential homes claiming to be representatives of Benton Utilities or Entergy. The suspect(s) then informs them they are behind on utility payments and that if a payment isn’t made immediately they would have their utilities turned off. In some of the calls they were instructed to go to a nearby grocery store and Western Union money to pay the bill.
We received three calls of this nature on 3/13/15 and thankfully none of those that were contacted fell for the scam. We want to remind residents that it’s not common practice for utility companies to call and demand immediate payment via Western Union or to ask for their credit card information. If you ever have any doubts as to the legitimacy of a call, then hang up and contact your utility company directly or the police department.
Anyone with information about this scam is encouraged to contact the Benton Police Department at 501-778-1171 or 501-315-TIPS. Individuals also may send us an anonymous crime tip about this incident to CRIMES (274637) with the keyword BNPD in the body of the text or go to www.crimereports.com to leave a tip. A crime tip can also be submitted via the official Benton Police Department app found on ITunes and Google Play.
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