FORT KENT, Maine — Daigle Oil Company officials began notifying customers of an apparent telephone scam after two clients said they were targeted on Tuesday.
The two customers reportedly received calls from someone posing as a Daigle Oil employee, who asked for personal information such as bank account numbers, according to Sonya Dechene LeBoeuf, the company’s credit and brand manager.
LeBoeuf said those two are the only customers the company is aware of who had received such calls and neither of them revealed any personal information to the caller. The caller ID information, according to the customers, was the same as a DOC’s Place location, according to LeBoeuf, who declined to identify the clients.
The company’s IT department later verified that the two calls were not made from any DOC locations, she said. They also determined that the company’s computer systems were not breached.
Company officials subsequently sent out emails to customers, posted an alert on Facebook and included a warning on its statements and invoices. The company also planned to create an alert bar on its webpage.
LeBoeuf said the company has not involved law enforcement in any investigation at this time, as there was no breach of company systems. Customers, however, should consider contacting local police if they suspect having been scammed or want to report a suspected scam, she said.
“This is the result of clever tactics of those who specialize in using technology to manipulate phone numbers and to con people,” LeBoeuf said.
Company employees do not make cold calls to solicit personal information from customers or from the general public, LeBoeuf said.
“We recommend that if anyone receives a suspicious call with someone posing as a DOC employee asking for personal information, simply hang up,” she said. “It can happen to any company.”
Fort Kent-based Daigle Oil has regional offices and fueling stations around The County and as far as Bangor. The company, founded in 1955, supplies heating oil, propane, gasoline, diesel, bulk pellets, and provides HVAC sales service.
