The City of Chino Hills was notified by a resident that she received a call on a Friday afternoon from the "water district" requesting a payment over the telephone to keep the account current. The caller told the resident that she could see that the resident made her payments by credit card but that the "water district" did not store credit card information.
In this case, the resident became suspicious and did not provide the caller with her credit card information.
"The resident was shocked at how close she came to falling for the credit card scammer's trick," said Denise Cattern, City spokesperson. "The scammer was very polite and continued her charade throughout the call."
This appears to be an isolated incident. The City and the Police Department have not received other calls.
"Residents need to know that the City of Chino Hills never calls its customers to arrange for payments," said Cattern. "Past due accounts receive notice by mail and persons who do not respond would receive a shut-off notice in the form of a "door hanger" placed on the front door knob."
Calls placed from City telephones come up on the caller id feature as "City of Chino Hills." City officials encourage residents to always be careful if a caller requests private information of any kind.
Suspected credit card scams should be reported to the Police Department by calling (909) 364-2000.
