“Dear PoPville,
The guy in this photo is pretending to be a fire system inspector. In the middle of our busiest time at Pearl’s Bagels [Saturday} AM this man came in and told our manager that he was there to inspect our fire suppression system and update the tags on our vent hood. He had our manager call us, and when he got off the phone he lied to them and said that we had forgotten to let them know that he was coming, handed them 4 bills, and told them that Oliver said to just pay the bills via cash in the safe. They were busy and flustered and paid him without confirming that we’d said this. The bills totaled $947 dollars.
We realized it was a scam when they told us they’d paid him cash, and when we looked at the bill we realized it’s a phony company with a fake address.
DO NOT PAY THIS MAN ANY MONEY!!”
From MPD:
“Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division, Special Investigations Branch, seek the public’s assistance in identifying a suspect in a First-Degree Fraud offense that occurred on Saturday, April 22, 2023, in the 1000 block of 7th Street, Northwest. Read More
“Dear PoPville,
Last evening I was the victim of a sad scam (which others may have had better senses to avoid, but I wanted to alert in case others have as much hope in our community as I do). Two teen girls came up and asked to borrow my phone to call someone (maybe the millennial in me still assumed kids could be without a phone) so I let them. Read More
From DPW: “Don’t fall for the fake parking ticket scam in DC. To check the legitimacy of your parking ticket, visit dmv.dc.gov and search ‘Pay Tickets’ using your citation number or license plate number.”
“Dear PoPville,
While my girlfriend and I were eating dinner, someone came to the door. They showed me a “badge” from “MPEG.” They talked to me about our neighborhood receiving a “high carbon” notice, and that they are looking for high emitters. Read More
“Dear PoPville,
I want everyone to be aware of a really, really scary scam that’s going around that I fell victim to yesterday.
I got a call yesterday afternoon from my Dad (his caller ID and photo on my phone came up the same way it always does). When I answered I heard his voice and he was in distress and sounded like he was being beaten up. Read More
“Dear PoPville,
Today (Saturday) I was driving on route 50 into dc when this older man in a beat up white suv signaled at my tire indicating something was wrong. I pulled over on South Dakota near the Costco to check it out and he also got out of his car and attempted to inspect my tire. He didn’t realize my dad was in the car behind me Read More
photo by Phil
“Dear PoPville,
I just wanted to give you (and DC!) a heads up that this guy is still at it. I ran into him with a car full of people (the whole back row was filled and had at least one minor in it) at 14th and F Streets NW Read More
“Dear PoPville,
I just wanted to highlight a scam I recently encountered on Facebook Marketplace. I’m not sure how prevalent the approach is but thought I’d share in case others were targeted. Read More
Thanks to Jamie for sending: “Lmao guy driving around Chinatown in a black SUV. Says he is a tourist from Dubai and that he’ll give you his Versace gold ring and chain because he needs money for gas“
If you fall for this one, well…
