ASHMORE, Ill. (WCIA) — Scammers are targeting a small town in Coles County, making the community think they are unsafe in their own homes.

The Village of Ashmore is one of the latest targets of fraud in Central Illinois. A post on Facebook claims there are toxic chemicals in the town’s water supply linked to cancer and other illnesses. It adds that a lawsuit is ongoing and that people could get a cash settlement.

The village wants people to know these claims are false.

“It’s a fear factor to get people out there and try to collect some free money,” said Ashmore Mayor Kurt Crail.

Jake Johnson, the village’s Public Works Administrator, said water levels are passing Illinois EPA tests with flying colors.

“Our distribution samples come back clean. There’s no coliform, bacteria, E. coli,” Johnson said. “I just ran our samples yesterday and received the results this morning that all of our stuff is clean and good to go.”

Village officials said it is possible the scammers were capitalizing on Mattoon’s water issues last month, where high levels of blue-green algae were found in the city’s drinking water supply.

“Like with the Mattoon situation, we’ve been asked about ours,” Johnson said. “But I’ve never had to deal with an issue where there’s a lawsuit against us that none of us know about.”

Mayor Crail said getting the word out about the scam has been frustrating, because it takes village staff away from their number one priority: taking care of Ashmore.

He also said he does not think anyone has fallen victim to the scam yet.