Dominion East Ohio Advises Customers: Beware Of Scammers And Impostors

CLEVELAND, April 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Occasionally, Dominion East Ohio receives customer reports of scam attempts, via telephone, email or in person -- with people claiming to be Dominion employees, who actually do not work for the company.

The company and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio have received recent reports from customers who have received automated telephone calls purporting to be from Dominion East Ohio, claiming that they have a large credit on their bills and that they need to input personal and account information to secure these credits. These false calls are made to try to trick customers into providing confidential, personal or account information for the suspected purpose of identity theft. Dominion does not call or email customers to obtain personal, confidential information such as a Social Security number, gas account number or bank account number.

If anyone calls, texts or emails customers pretending to be a Dominion representative requesting customers' personal information, that is just what they are doing - pretending.  They may be trying to take your identity, your money or both. This may be a scam. Capture the phone number. Hang up. Don't reply. Report the suspicious activity to local authorities to avoid letting you or others become another victim.

The same kind of precaution applies to face-to-face situations. Never allow anyone in your house or apartment who claims to be a Dominion representative unless you have scheduled an appointment or reported a problem. And, even in those cases, ask for proper identification. All Dominion East Ohio employees carry a photo identification card. If customers are uncertain whether someone claiming to be a Dominion employee actually works for the company, they can just request to see the employee's photo identification card for verification.  Dominion East Ohio employees will be happy to show their company photo ID cards to customers.

Other suspected scam attempts involve pressuring customers to provide personal information, by claiming natural gas service will be shut off if immediate payment is not received. Dominion reminds customers that the company does not make live outbound collection calls requesting payment on the spot. However, the company does make recorded, outbound courtesy calls to customers in accordance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.   

If customers have any question about any such encounters, they should contact Dominion's call center at 1-800-362-7557. A customer service center representative can verify if the telephone call or email message is legitimate, or confirm that one of the company's employees or contractors is scheduled to work on natural gas service at a customer's home or business.

Want to be sure? Scams are not limited to impersonating a utility company. For more information on the wide range of scams, visit the Better Business Bureau's Top Scams.

Dominion (NYSE: D) is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 26,400 megawatts of generation, 15,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 6,600 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion operates one of the nation's largest natural gas storage systems with 1 trillion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves more than 6 million utility and retail energy customers. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's website at www.dom.com.

 

Contacts:

Neil Durbin, (216) 736-6239 or Email: Neil.J.Durbin@dom.com; Tracy Oliver, (216) 736-6219 or Email: Tracy.A.Oliver@dom.com; Peggy Ehora, (419) 226-4866 or Email Peggy.A.Ehora@dom.com in Lima; or toll-free in Ohio 1-800-556-4400.

 

SOURCE Dominion East Ohio