PSA

“I wanted to let everyone know about the thief hitting yoga studios”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Miki Jourdan

“Dear PoPville,

I wanted to let everyone know about the thief hitting yoga studios recently. I got my wallet stolen from my locker (unlocked) on Saturday from Core Power in Dupont. The thief signed up for the week free class, so she gave no other information other than name and email. She waited in the locker room and when class started, took my wallet and left the studio. She tried to spend money at CVS, H&M, and Rite Aid.

My wallet was later returned to me from an Uber driver with a bunch of other people’s credit cards in it. It seems she did the same thing at other yoga studios throughout the day and finally disposed of the wallet when all the cards were turned off.”

“always double-check the ballot you’re filling out to make sure it’s the accurate ballot”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

Something very concerning happened yesterday afternoon when I was voting.

I voted at the Palisades Recreation Center (a Ward 3 polling place) and am a voting resident of neighborhood 3D05 in Ward 3 which seems to cover most of the Kent neighborhood in NW. My husband and I recently moved to this neighborhood a few months ago and I planned to do Same Day Voting Registration.

I was directed to the Same Day Registration desk, and after the volunteer input my address and all my information, which I double-checked, my confirmation receipt/ticket had my accurate address but the wrong voting zone. (more…)

“Warning to all ladies – ONLY use a bag that you can zip and zip it closed in public.”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville Flickr user Eric Spiegel

“Dear PoPville,

ZIP YOUR BAGS – Pick Pocketed at Dinner at Taco Bamba 777 Eye Street NW

Last night I met a friend at Taco Bamba at 6:15pm, by 730ish I could not find my wallet to pay for my dinner, and a subsequent check of my accounts showed all my credit cards purchased Metrocards at the Mount Vernon Metro stop around 6:28pm at the values of $103 and $104.

My bag was a tote with no zipper – warning to all ladies – ONLY use a bag that you can zip and zip it closed in public.

DC Police took the report and want to claim it as as “lost property” since I did not see someone take it despite knowing I had my wallet moments earlier and went from work a few blocks away. (more…)

“She then proceeded to tell me that drugs were found in the car and that the addresses were already under investigation for drug trafficking.”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Rich Renomeron

Ed. Note: At this point I assume every single phone call is a scam. When my mom calls, I’m like “Oh yeah mom, what’d you buy me for my 12th birthday? Faster, faster. SCAMMER.” Click. But that’s just me.

“Dear PoPville,

I just wanted to submit a warning to fellow DCers. Today, I received a phone call from a legitimate 202 number (I didn’t know the number and normally wouldn’t answer, but did in case it was a work call). When I answered, they asked me to verify my name (I did), told me that I was under criminal investigation, and asked if I knew anything about it. I said no.

I will preface the rest of the story by saying that I have a very common name and am a bit paranoid about identity theft (it’s happened to several of my family members). I only stayed on the phone as long as I did (12 minutes!) so that I could confirm that my identity was not actually stolen.

Anyway, the woman on the phone told me that they found an abandoned car that was registered under my name. She described the car, gave me two addresses that were associated with it, and asked if I was familiar with any of these. I said no. She then proceeded to tell me that drugs were found in the car and that the addresses were already under investigation for drug trafficking. (more…)

Coming to your phone at 2:18pm “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

By Prince Of Petworth


via FEMA

From FEMA:

“PAWS National Test of the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and Emergency Alert System (EAS)

The National EAS and WEA test will be held on the backup date of October 3, 2018, beginning at 2:18 p.m. EDT.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and Emergency Alert System (EAS) on the backup date of October 3, 2018 due to ongoing response efforts to Hurricane Florence. The WEA portion of the test commences at 2:18 p.m. EDT, and the EAS portion follows at 2:20 p.m. EDT. The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether improvements are needed. (more…)

You’re Still Doing It Wrong

By Prince Of Petworth

My PSA from almost exactly a year ago has failed miserably.

This dockable bikeshare bike was chilling on a random side street in Forest Hills. So what happens. The last person to ride it checks their bill at the end of the month and are like WTF? Does it keep racking up charges until someone is kind enough to dock it for them? So many questions.

Heads Up Dog Walkers and Residents – “Make-shift Rat Poison” eaten by a puppy in Mount Pleasant.

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user brunofish

“Dear PoPville,

My dog, who is a 6 month old golden retriever 25 pound puppy, stuck his head through a fence where someone had made a make-shift rat poison station in a yard in Mount Pleasant (close to the intersection of Irving and Mount Pleasant Street but it was in someone’s yard.) This consisted of blue cylinders of rat poison out in the open on a piece of newspaper with a bait of half a corn on the Cobb. Being a puppy who eats everything really quickly my dog ate it (both the rat poison and the Cobb)and now is in the hospital under a 24 hour watch. (more…)

Heads Up – Auto Tech Service is moving from Adams Morgan

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user StreetsofWashington

“Dear PoPville,

I dropped of my car today at Auto Tech Service in Adams Morgan only to learn that they were abruptly closing down today and moving to another location in NE near Ivy City. They are an amazing auto repair shop and I’m sad to see them leave. I thought it would be worth sharing since many locals use their service.”

Ed. Note: Let’s take this opportunity to make a best mechanics in town list? Thanks!

Apartment Rental Scam PSA

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

Just wanted to give a heads up that there is a fairly active apartment scammer on the DC Craigslist. They seem to be borderline psychopathic in their approach. They list an actual local property as a local real estate agent. Both the property and the real estate agent exist. They even go so far as to look up the real estate agent’s local license ID and the property owner information.

The red flags are pretty apparent, like them requesting a “deposit” upfront to lock in the lease before viewing. I spent the last few weeks toying with the scammer a bit before they ghosted me (understandable).

I just saw the same ad I originally responded to go back up, and figured your readers might benefit from being aware of this scam and spread the word.

I’ve attached a screenshot of the CL ad as well as the huge red flag in the “lease”:

“ARTICLE V: DEPOSIT AGREEMENT: I NANCY XXXXXXXXXXXX TRUSTEE & AARON XXXXXXXX (Landlord), MARY XXXXXXX (PROPERTY MANAGER) agrees with _______________ (Tenant) that the first month’s rent of $2800 and the security deposit of $2800 was paid prior to viewing, if for any reason tenant does not like or find the apartment not in perfect condition as advertised after viewing, tenant can terminate this agreement and the full deposit payment of $5600 will be refunded immediately on the spot.””

View More Stories