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Columbia Police Department Warns of New Phone Scam

  Columbia residents are being targeted for the second time in two months by a credit card phone scam. The Columbia Police Department issued a warning Wednesday that scammers were posing as employees with the city of Columbia and targeting people across Mid-Missouri.

The scammers tell residents they are behind on utility payments and must pay within two hours or face their utilities being shut off. They then ask customers to make a payment over the phone via credit card.

“This phone scam has actually been one that we have seen hit Columbia before but it’s making its rounds yet again,” Bryana Larimer, spokesperson for the CPD, said. “There is a caller that is utilizing an eight-six-six phone number and he claims to be an employee with the city of Columbia.”

The police department said this isn’t the first time residents have been targeted by these scams.

“In some cases they can even mask the numbers to actually make them come up looking like they’re calling from the city of Columbia,” Larimer said. “We saw that last month when the scam was going around where someone was impersonating being an officer with the Columbia police department.”        

The scammer previously targeting mid-Missourians told residents they had a warrant out for their arrest due to missing jury duty but could avoid jail time by paying a fine over the phone. The police department said phone scams occur regularly within Columbia and are getting more complex with technology.

Police said the City of Columbia Utility Billing Office may make calls for billing reminders, but will not ask for any type of payment to be made during the call.