Phone Scammers target Jacksonville residents

JACKSONVILLE, Onslow County — Phone scammers targeted people in Jacksonville for personal and financial information.

Jacksonville Public Safety said the phone scam involved utility billing.

Officials said the scammers used the Jacksonville city hall number to contact people about their electric bill.

Jacksonville Public Safety said scammers can spoof the Jacksonville City Hall phone number, so it looks like a legitimate call.

They called to get people’s personal information. According to experts, the best way to avoid this is by not giving away personal information over the phone.

A group of four friends said the dangers of spam callers and spoofing are all too common.

Chloe Spencer, an Onslow Resident said, “A lot of times people will call me and ask me about my cars extended warranty.”

Raiaam Elharin, also said she has problems with scam calls, “I have been called a couple of times for car insurance and health insurance.”

Phone scammers target people via phone calls, texts, and emails.

According to Elharin, “I usually block them or ask my service provider if I can do anything else.”

The City of Jacksonville warned residents about a utility phone scam, where someone used the city’s number to call people about an electric bill, but on the city’s website they only offer water sewer and garbage.

Aaliyah Mitchell shared her experience, “There are times where calls get through and they sound like people you would know.”

According to Jacksonville public safety, if this happens to you, you should avoid giving your personal or financial information out over the phone.

One way to avoid becoming a victim is become more aware of the types of questions they are asking, like should this be information that I’m giving out to other people.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, you can also block the number or speak to your phone provider about blocking scam calls.

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