Suddenly I realized what had happened. The Raleigh power company, Carolina Power & Light, required a large deposit. If you had references from your former utility company, you could avoid paying it, so I’d called the power company that Michael Stanfill used in Oregon—Portland General Electric—and asked for a reference letter to be faxed. I told the lady on the other end of the line that I still wanted to keep my account in Oregon but was buying property in Raleigh. When they sent the letter to me, they had apparently sent a courtesy copy to the real Stanfill, as well. I felt like a total idiot: by trying to save a $400 deposit, I’d completely blown my cover.