Dominion warns against scams

Published 10:57 pm Friday, August 16, 2019

Dominion Energy is warning of scam calls going around pretending to be from Dominion, and even appearing to come from Dominion.

“We see different forms of these scams,” Dominion spokeswoman Bonita Billingsley Harris stated in an email. However, the scam often goes like this:

  • The caller pretends to be a Dominion Energy employee, and the caller ID may even display “Dominion” or “Dominion Energy.”
  • The caller insists the recipient’s account is overdue and threatens to cut off power if payment is not received immediately.
  • The customer is told to purchase a prepaid card at a local store and call a number provided by the scammer.

Dominion urges customers not to be fooled by the scammers. According to Harris’ email, Dominion would never use aggressive threats to disconnect service, insist on immediate payment over the phone or request a pre-paid card to be used for payment over the phone.

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People who receive one of these calls should do the following:

  • Ask the caller for their name and phone number to help law enforcement track and stop these calls.
  • Hang up and call 866-DOM-HELP (866-366-4357) to report the call and find out if your account really is overdue. Do not call any other number.
  • Report scams to local police.

“Dominion Energy is working with local and federal law enforcement as well as other energy companies and utilities to monitor and stop these scams,” Harris stated in an email.

For more information about protecting yourself against scams, visit www.dominionenergy.com/scams.