Don't Get Scammed

I answered the phone the other day. It was a man, a very heavily accented Indian sounding man, claiming to be Sean Williams asking to speak with someone who couldn’t come to the phone at that moment. I knew this girl had been receiving harassing phone calls so I was instantly suspicious. So I asked if there was a message. Oh yes. There was.

Mr. Williams informed me that he was from the Department of Justice and he needed to speak with her immediately. Again, I explained that she was unavailable so he asked me what it was regarding. Apparently there is a lawsuit being filed against her. Um, right. The Department of Justice is going to reveal that sort of thing to a complete unknown.

I asked if there was a reference number she should use when she called back and Sean pawned me off on his supervisor. Of course I asked for his name as well. Frank Hunter who had even more of an accent than Sean did. I again requested a reference number and was told that it didn’t exist yet. It would be assigned in the morning after the suit was filed but they needed some pertinent information from her first. Ding, ding, ding. Like the Department of Justice wouldn’t have a case number, with or without an actual lawsuit.

So after they made me repeat the number she was to call four times, I hung up and contacted the Department of Justice. The real one. Surprise, surprise, they never heard of them and the number was not one of theirs. The very pleasant woman on the main switchboard asked me to hold and the next thing I heard was a voice identifying herself as FBI. Yep, she took all the information and asked me to also notify the FCC. Who asked questions and then gave me a number for the FTC. They had me repeat the whole thing, gave me a complaint reference number and had me speak with the Office of the Attorney General.

Guess what. Later that afternoon good old Sean called again. Which is when I told him what the helpful FBI woman told me to say, that they’d been reported to the FBI and they should remove the number from their system and quit harassing the woman they were attempting scam. I doubt it’ll work but it kept me entertained for a little while. See what happens when I get annoyed?