Dominion Energy warns of scam calls during COVID-19 pandemic

Posted: Apr 24, 2020 / 03:07 PM MDT

Updated: Apr 27, 2020 / 09:49 AM MDT

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Dominion Energy says scammers are continuing to try and steal your money during an already difficult time.

“They had been steadily declining January, February, March, it blew up after the pandemic started and then they started to decline a little bit,” said Bonita Harris, the media and community relations manager for Dominion Energy.

Harris told 10 On Your Side scammers will spoof the number they’re calling from to make it seem like it’s actually Dominion calling you, then demand payment.

No one is immune. Harris says recently an employee at Dominion got a scam call. The employee took a picture of their caller ID and it says “Dominion Power” not “Dominion Energy.” That’s another red flag.

Dominion will never call out of the blue and demand payment or tell you you’ll lose power.

“With all of the issues going on with the pandemic, layoffs, sheltering in place, Dominion Energy said right up front, we will not disconnect anyone for non payment during this critical time,” said Harris.

Harris says the scammers mostly target the elderly, but are also targeting those who don’t speak English as a first language.

Harris says they put information on social media in Spanish as well as English, to alert as many people as they can to what is going on. She also wants to remind people that Dominion Energy would already have all of your information on file, so they wouldn’t need to ask you for any information over the phone.

If you think you are getting a scam call, you can always hang up and call Dominion Energy directly.

There are multiple ways you can report what happened:

In Virginia, call the Attorney General’s Office Consumer Protection Line: 1-800-552-9963.
The Norfolk Sheriff’s Office has a Consumer Protection Unit: 757-664-4344.
Report to FTC.gov/complaint or call 1-877-382-4357 or report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov