PG Police Warn Residents of Pepco Impersonation and Official Scams

Someone showed up at a Prince George's County home claiming to be a Pepco employee, walked to the breaker panel, switched off the main power, and left with an $18,500 check. The "repairs" were never made.

That 2025 case is one of four Pepco impersonation incidents now on file with the Prince George's County Police Department's Financial Crimes Unit, which issued a public warning Thursday about two separate, in-person fraud operations targeting elderly residents across the county.

The Pepco scheme follows a rehearsed script. A suspect arrives unannounced dressed in what appears to be utility worker attire. The pitch: an alarm or system alert has flagged a dangerous electrical issue, possibly a fire hazard, inside the home. Once allowed inside, the suspect walks to the breaker panel and physically cuts the main power, a calculated move to manufacture urgency and fear. Immediate repairs are needed, the suspect insists. Payment by check, right now. The check gets cashed. No work gets done.

Three reports have been filed in 2026 alone. One victim lost $8,300; two other attempts failed. Combined with the 2025 case, the four incidents represent at least $26,800 in confirmed losses to this single scheme in Prince George's County.

The second operation, which police are calling a "carrier scam," runs a different but equally targeted playbook. Suspects contact victims by email, text, or phone while impersonating federal agents, government officials, or IT specialists. The message is alarming: multiple bank accounts have been compromised. Withdraw your funds immediately. Then a physical accomplice, the "carrier," shows up at the victim's front door to collect the cash. At least one county resident has lost more than $15,000 to this scheme.

Both scams are engineered to target older adults and elderly residents, a demographic increasingly in the crosshairs of impersonation fraud nationally. The Federal Trade Commission received nearly 850,000 impersonation scam reports in 2024, with total reported losses approaching $3 billion. For adults 60 and older who lost more than $100,000 to such schemes, combined losses grew eight-fold between 2020 and 2024, from $55 million to $445 million.

Pepco has issued direct guidance: do not open your door to anyone you do not recognize. If a person claims to be a Pepco employee, ask to see a photo ID through a closed window before allowing any entry, then call Pepco at 202-833-7500 to confirm whether that person is employed by the company and whether any work has been scheduled at your address. The utility maintains a dedicated "Imposters and Scams" page on its website as an ongoing consumer resource.

Police advise the same skepticism toward any unsolicited contact claiming that bank accounts have been compromised: do not withdraw cash based on a phone call, text, or email, and never hand money to someone who arrives unannounced at your door. Anyone who has already sent money should contact their bank immediately to report the fraud and attempt to recover the funds.

Reports can be filed with the PGPD's Financial Crimes Unit or with the Federal Trade Commission. No charges have been announced in connection with any of the four Pepco impersonation cases or the carrier scam.