Scammers are turning up the heat on Sevierville utility customers, according to local police, with callers pretending to be from Sevier County Electric System and demanding instant payment over the phone. Anyone who gets one of these calls is urged to hang up and verify their account directly with SCES by calling 865‑453‑2887.
In a Facebook post, the Sevierville Police Department warned that the scammers may be spoofing the electric system’s number and reminded residents that "SCES will not demand payment over the phone for past due bills," according to the Sevierville Police Department. The post notes some calls have shown up as an 800 number and that callers often try to whip up a sense of urgency and fear of consequences. SCES’s official website lists 865‑453‑2887 as its main customer service number for billing and outages, and customers who are unsure are told to call that line instead of any number a caller provides; see Sevier County Electric System.
How the calls try to trick you
Scammers commonly spoof caller ID so an incoming call appears to come from a local utility or government office, then lean on urgent language to pressure victims into paying immediately, usually with gift cards, prepaid reload cards, or cryptocurrency. The Federal Trade Commission flags gift card and cryptocurrency payments as classic red flags and advises people to hang up and report the attempt instead of doing what the caller says; see the Federal Trade Commission for examples and warnings. The FTC’s consumer reporting portal, ReportFraud.ftc.gov, gathers reports that help law enforcement track scam patterns.
What to do if you get a call
If you get a suspicious call, hang up right away and call SCES at 865‑453‑2887 using the number on your bill or on the utility’s website, not any number the caller gives you. If you lost money or shared payment details, file an online complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3 and notify local law enforcement. The FBI and other federal offices have repeatedly warned Tennesseans about spoofed calls that impersonate police and demand payment.
Keep records of the call time, the number that showed up on your phone, any callback numbers, screenshots, and receipts. Those details can help banks and investigators as they try to recover funds.
Where this fits locally
The Sevierville alert follows other warnings about impostor calls in Sevier County this year, including a March wave of jury duty and law enforcement impersonation scams that pushed victims to pay in Bitcoin. For local background, see Hoodline’s coverage of the county’s recent jury duty scam. Officials say quick reporting and spreading the word to family and neighbors remains one of the best defenses against these fast-changing tactics.
Sevierville residents who are unsure about a call are urged to pause, hang up, and use the official SCES number to check account status. If you suspect you have been victimized, contact your bank immediately and file reports with law enforcement and the FTC so investigators can connect the dots across complaints.
