City warns of fake utilities phone scam

The City of Saskatoon issued a bulletin Friday morning warning of a phone scam targeting residents.

The city reported getting a number of calls from concerned customers who said they’d been contacted by someone claiming to be from the city’s utility collections department.

The caller reportedly told customers they had overdue bills and threatened to cut off their service unless a payment was made.

The city noted the calls appeared to have come from a 1-800 number. While the city does have a 1-800 number customers can call into for service, a spokesperson noted the city doesn’t use it to make outgoing calls.

Customers were warned not to give out credit card or banking information over the phone. The city noted that customers will never have service cut off unless they are behind on their payments and have received a written notice.

People can call the city’s utility collections team at 306-975-2405 or 1-800-667-9944 to confirm if someone is a legitimate city employee.

Anyone who gets a suspicious call from someone claiming to be a city bill collector was urged to file a police report.