UPDATE: The Longview Police Department said a hotel in Longview has also been the target of a water utility scam. The Homewood Suites by Hilton was sent a fake City of Longview water bill, officials said.

The Longview PD shared the following image of the fake water bill:

Photo courtesy of Longview Police Department.

The three circled portions are key signs that this bill is fake like:

  • The invoice numbers are not formatted as the City of Longview typically does.
  • The city logo appears pixelated and unclear.
  • Legitimate water bills only display the telephone number 903-237-1030.

Longview PD asked victims of this scam to report any incidents.

TYLER, Texas (KETK) – Tyler officials said that a man and woman are reportedly impersonating the Tyler Water Business Office and calling local hotels to ask for payment.

Tyler Water Utilities have reported that these callers will claim that the hotels have only 60 gallons of water left to use and need to send them $7,500 through Venmo, Cash App or Zelle, in order to keep their water on.

The callers will reportedly also say that they’ve changed out their water meter and the payment will have to be made to get the meter back. They will reportedly give you a bank code to make the payment but will claim they need need to call back with a confirmation number.

According to TWU, the woman caller is using the name Amy Diaz and their caller ID shows them as the City of Tyler but they are not representatives of the city.

The following five hotels have been targeted so far: La Quinta on Loop 323, Hilton on Grande Avenue, Summit Hotel on Heritage Drive, Homewood Suites on Golden Road and Magnuson Grand on Troup Highway.

The Tyler Water Business Office will never contact you for payment and they will never use an app like Venmo, PayPal or Zelle. Any payments made to TWU are made through their online portal.

Anyone with information about these scammers can call the Tyler Police Department at (903) 531-1000.