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people are scum

We live in Northern Virginia, just got a call from a man claiming to be from Dominion Virginia Power (Our electric company).

Details of the scam:

- He claimed that when the power was restored to our area after the hurricane, there was an electric power surge associated with it and it damaged our circuit breaker and other equipment.

- He said it was an emergency and that the equipment needed to be replaced immediately or we might face an explosion/house fire.

- He said there would be a truck at our home within 10-15 minutes, we needed to have $300 in payment ready.

- When asked if it how much it would cost/how we'd be billed, he claimed he needed the payment immediately.

- We asked about payment, he said he couldn't take checks, that we needed to run down to CVS and get a Green Dot Card with $300 prepaid.

- He provided a phone number 1-(888)201-8125 ext. 1604

We were considerably suspicious so we called the official Dominion Virginia phone number and the number he provided.

What the secretary said at the phone number he provided

- The payment was due immediately

- She knew our home address, our Dominion Account Number, the names of all the adult aged residents in our home.

- She could arrange the payment to be lowered to $200.

What Dominion Virginia Power told us:

- There was no record of a call

- There was no issue with our equipment

- It sounded like a bogus call.

- Dominion doesn't have a fraud department, the information would be passed on to management, we should report the info to the police.

Update

We filed a police report with Fairfax County PD.

Update 2

The person called back at 3:15 PM asking if the payment was ready. We told them that if they really wanted to, they should come on over and the police would be waiting for them. They hung up, having called from a new number this time. 1(800)611-9437.

Update 3

We contacted Fox 5 News DC. Extremely awesome people there, they are calling Dominion Power and the phone numbers the scammers provided. They will be coming out to interview us about the attempted scam for a report they are doing. I'll keep you guys posted about whether or not it will be airing tonight.