Dominion East Ohio is again warning customers to be aware of telephone, email and in-person scams by people impersonating Dominion employees.

The company and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio said it has 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.

According to Dominion, the false calls are made to try to trick customers into providing confidential, personal or account information for the suspected purpose of identity theft.

Dominion says it does not call or email customers to obtain personal, confidential information such as a Social Security number, gas account number or bank account number.

No one should be texting or emailing customers pretending to be a Dominion representative requesting customers’ personal information, according to the utility. They may be trying to take your identity, your money or both.

  • Capture the phone number
  • Hang up
  • Don’t reply
  • Report the suspicious activity to local authorities.

The same kind of precaution applies to face-to-face situations, according to Dominion.

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.

For more information on the wide range of scams, visit the Better Business Bureau’s Top Scams.