CLEVELAND, Nov. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion East
Ohio is proud to stand with its fellow natural gas distribution
companies, as well as utilities in the water and electric sectors,
to observe the inaugural Utilities United against Scams Day (UUASD)
on Wednesday, November 16, 2016, and
raise awareness about utility scams throughout the week.
Most utility scams involve criminals posing as natural gas,
electric or water provider employees — either in person, over the
phone or via internet — and demanding immediate payment via cash,
credit cards or prepaid debit cards, supposedly in order to prevent
service disconnection. These unscrupulous criminals can be very
convincing, and often target those who are most vulnerable,
including the elderly and non-native English speakers. However,
with the right information, customers can learn to avoid and report
these predatory scams.
Customers who believe they have been targeted by utility
scammers should follow these tips:
- Hang up the phone or close the door, and call your utility
company's verified direct phone number, which is 1-800-362-7557,
for Dominion East Ohio.
- Do not give the caller or visitor a prepaid card, such as a
Green Dot card, a wire transfer, or any other form of payment,
which may be difficult to trace.
- Ignore suspicious requests for personal information such as
bank account numbers, user names and passwords, credit card
numbers, or Social Security numbers.
- If you are shopping for an Energy Choice natural gas supplier,
only share your Dominion account number after you have
accepted a participating Energy Choice or governmental aggregation
gas supplier's rate offer.
- Delete any emails from utilities that are not your service
provider. Also delete all suspicious emails that require immediate
action to verify or demand personal information.
- To learn more about scams that may be active in your area, or
if you have questions about the authenticity of communications from
persons claiming to be utility representatives, Contact your local
police through the non-emergency telephone number, the Ohio Attorney General's office at
1-800-282-0515, and/or contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC):
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ or 1-877-FTC-HELP
(1-877-382-4357).
UUASD is a collaborative effort among the electric, gas, and
water utility industries to help prevent utility service fraud
through education, awareness, and customer advocacy initiatives. A
primary goal of this collective effort is to help customers learn
how to identify and avoid utility-related scams.
About Dominion
Dominion (NYSE: D) is one of the nation's largest producers
and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately
25,700 megawatts of generation, 12,200 miles of natural gas
transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 6,500 miles of
electric transmission lines. Dominion operates one of the
nation's largest natural gas storage systems with 933 billion cubic
feet of storage capacity and serves more than 5 million utility and
retail energy customers in 14 states. For more information about
Dominion, visit the company's website at www.dom.com.
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SOURCE Dominion East Ohio