Scam Alert!

October 23rd, 2009

We are surrounded by crooks – fight back!

The phone rings and I grab it. A pleasant voice says, “Good afternoon Sir, is this Mr. J. K. Jones?” “Yes, it is,” I answer politely. “Mr. Jones, we have some news for you. My name is Shirley Smith of Cee, Dee and Eff, Attorneys. Our offices are at 1234 Main Street, Downtown.” “Yes, and…” “We are the attorneys handling the distribution of the proceeds of last night’s Lotto in which we see you had a ticket. The good news, Mr. Jones, is that your ticket had the winning numbers and you won over a million dollars.” “Oh my!” “Congratulations, Mr. Jones. This call was to verify that you are the winner. My manager will be calling you shortly to discuss the payment details. Good afternoon, Sir! Have a great day!”

The manager

As promised, the manager called an hour later. I was already beside myself at the delay. The upshot of the conversation was that I should give him my financial and other personal details so that he could lodge my claim with the Lotto authority. I should also send him a check for ten thousand dollars. He would attend to all the paperwork and the matter of the taxes to be paid on my winnings and the send me the balance.

A bell rang

A bell rang somewhere in the back of my mind. I remembered hearing a story about something like this. I put the phone down, shaking a little as I realized how close I had come to winning and then to losing. Once sanity returned, I understood that no one knew I had bought a Lotto ticket, my name is not on the ticket and if I had won the phone call wouldn’t have sounded like the one I received. If you receive a call like that, put the phone down. I had come close to withdrawing ten thousand dollars from my pension funds and sending it off to these people.

New scams

Beware and be awake. There will always be new scams as twisted and crooked minds dream up new creative ways to separate you from your money. A favorite place is the internet. We have all received letters from a lawyer or the governor of some bank in Nigeria asking to help him move millions of dollars out of the country. All he needs are your banking details.

The scam principle

The principle of a successful scan is basically greed – the victim’s desire to get his hands on money. That was the bait in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. He didn’t invent it – it’s as old as the hills. It’s the victims who are new – they hadn’t been there before.

The seniors

It’s us seniors who are the targets and it’s because we are seniors that we are eminently susceptible and gullible. Who doesn’t think about a last luxury cruise, a wild exotic holiday or an unlimited budget-free shopping spree? Be alert, someone’s aiming at you!

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 am and is filed under Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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