Joanna wrote:
>>I have just received a rather peculiar phonecall.<<
Reminds of when my wife and I were first married. She is from Iran and had
been in the US only a short time and had absolutely no exposure to phone
scams: As soon as I walked in the door from work, she said to me, "I've got
a surprise for you!" And she proceeded to tell me that we were getting a new
car, a Mercedes Benz, and all she had to do was spend about $500 or $600 on
vitamins, or something like that. We'd been, she explained, chosen at random
to receive this prize, etc., etc. When I explained to her what a scam was
and that this was a scam, she called them back--because they gave a callback
number so at least on the surface they complied with whatever US law
requires them to allow you to cancel your order within a certain period of
time--and they guy who picked up the phone told her first, "You should have
thought of this [wanting to cancel] before you said yes." And when my wife
pushed him a little bit, he told her that it was too late, the Mercedes had
already shipped and so they couldn't cancel. Thankfully, we were able to get
to the credit card company before the charge had posted and they canceled
the account and so we weren't charged, but it is amazing what people will
try and it is even more amazing when you think about how many times they
must be successful in order for it to be worthwhile for them to keep on
trying.
Richard
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