photo by Diane Krauthamer
“Dear PoPville,
I just wanted to let you know about a scam that (I am ashamed to say) I fell for on the corner of Corcoran and 17th NW yesterday near Dupont Circle. (more…)
scam
“Dear PoPville,
Sunday outside of the Adams Morgan Community Center, a couple in their 30s said their car was towed with all their belongings and had no means of getting it back without cash. They claimed to be law students at GW and that they were married (neither wearing wedding rings). They said they had no family or friends here since they just moved to DC. They would venmo me back in 2 hours and I could have their phone and ID as collateral. I had my car towed when I first moved here so I was too sympathetic to their story. (more…)
From Attorney General Karl Racine:
“DC residents: My office is investigating recent phishing scams that appear to be connected to the use of Uber. (more…)
“Dear PoPville,
On Saturday night I was out with a friend in Logan Circle when I used the Uber app to select an UberX to come take me home around 10:20 PM. I was connected with a driver pretty quickly, but she messaged me in the app saying that the map would not show her moving until I gave her my phone number–that there was “an update to the app.” I had recently read about some other sketchiness in Uber on PoPville, so I didn’t respond as I was chatting with my friend about how I thought it was a scam. (more…)
photo by Diane Krauthamer
From MPD:
“The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) would like to warn the public about a financial telephone scam, where callers posing as representatives of MPD falsely assert criminal legal action in exchange for monetary funds.
The Metropolitan Police Department has been notified of multiple phone calls regarding scammers impersonating members of MPD who have attempted to extort individuals, claiming that federal subpoenas and warrants have been issued against them. We are informing the public that they are not members of the department.
If you happen to receive unsolicited phone calls similar in nature: (more…)
“Dear PoPville,
We received the note pictured on our car late last week. I was on a walk this morning and saw the exact same note on another car. (more…)
photo by Pablo Raw
“Dear PoPville,
I recently received a Monetary Determination from DC’s Office of Unemployment Compensation that I believe may be fraudulent. I have not filed an unemployment claim with the District of Columbia. I found this to be a crazy coincidence given today’s DCist article.
The letter was mailed to my old DC address and my old landlord forwarded the letter to my new address (I’m now a resident of Virginia).
Out of curiosity, I navigated to the DC Unemployment Insurance Portal website, clicked on “Account Sign In” and “Forgot Your Password”. When I typed in my Social Security Number, it said “Password has been sent to [email protected]”, which is NOT my email address. (more…)
“Dear PoPville,
I just wanted to share a scam that I unfortunately fell victim to this morning. I locked myself out of my house. I had a Nest lock that I was able to unlock, but we also had a regular entry door lock in the doorknob, for which I’d accidentally left the keys inside.
I called a company, which had great google reviews. With that service, you call dispatch, and they send a technician out. The locksmith arrived, and began working. She spent about one minute trying to pick the lock, then before I knew what she was doing, she pulled out a drill and completely destroyed the lock. She claimed it was necessary, and then offered to sell me a new one for $125 (the same lock costs $20 on Amazon). This was on top of the $250 she’d already charged for the service.
This all seemed wrong, since it was a regular door lock, no deadbolt, no damage. (more…)
“Dear PoPville,
I’m in the midst of a weird situation with Uber – wanted to alert others/see if this has happened to anyone else. Called an Uber this morning in DC, driver texted through the app and said he needed a pin/passcode that would be texted to start the ride. I had heard about Uber’s new safety pin feature- got the text, shared the pin. Then, the driver messaged back and apologized and said he needed the pin that got sent to my email b/c the first one expired.
I went into my email, got the pin. Then, we noticed the driver was not moving, so we messaged him back. No answer. Then we called the number in the app. Disconnected. Cancelled ride several times. Driver repeatedly accepted again (same driver). Then, I got kicked out of the app. Logged in, could not change it. My phone number was changed to a foreign number. Tried to reset password via the website, and lo and behold I cannot because the driver activated two step verification on my account, and all the notifications go to him. (more…)
Thanks to RT for sending “Dubai scam—Just wanted to alert you and all those that read your site…they are BACK! On a ramp getting on to the Beltway off of Greenbelt Road… probably considered Berwyn Heights Maryland.”