Telemarketing Scam: How a One Minute Call Ruined My Weekend

Fridays are normally great for me! I look forward to the weekend when I get to wind down with my family and friends. This particular Friday morning, I had just put my daughter down for a nap and was looking forward to a little spring cleaning when my cell phone rang.

I picked up the pink phone and looked at the caller ID screen. "(813) 885-7057", the screen read. The phone number wasn't familiar to me, but I have relatives and friends scattered throughout the land, so I chose to answer the call. What a mistake!

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hi, is this Lisa?" the female voice asked on the other line, as if we were old friends.

"Yes, speaking," I curiously replied.

"This is January," she stated her name. Then she fired off words like a machine gun! I could hardly grasp the concept of her name let alone where she said she was from and what this was about. Then it started to catch up to me. I heard things like, "Grand prize from Tampa, Florida. I need a major credit card to verify..."

A major exclamation point formed in my mind, surrounded by flashing red lights. I hadn't entered anything to win a prize. I certainly don't give out my cell phone number to just anyone.

"Hold on a second," I interrupted. "Take me off your calling list please."

I had expected this telemarketer, "January", to reply with, "Sure, no problem, thank you. I will take you off of our calling list."

Instead, I heard the telemarketer explode with, "WHY?! You don't even know what I'm talking to you about!"

I was stunned! I quickly retorted, "What do you mean, 'why'? This is MY personal phone and I don't want you to call it!"

January was angry. She said, "I can take you off of my personal calling list but don't expect this to be the last call! Have a nice day! I LOVE YOU!" Then she quickly hung up.

I actually looked at my cell phone in my hand, extremely stunned. I had never been spoken to this way by anyone, let alone a telemarketer. I immediately made sure my cell phone number was on the Do Not Call List. Then I wanted to find out who this particular telemarketer belonged to. I found a website, www.whocalled.us/list. I entered the phone number of the telemarketer. It did not tell me who owned the number, but it did manage to show other people who had been harassed by this same number and the details of their calls. It seemed as though January was a part of a telemarketing scam trying to get personal information to obtain money, which had been obvious to me in the first place.

I understand that everyone needs a good paying job to get by. I don't condemn all telemarketers, because one of my first jobs was in the same field. However, I do have a problem with scam artists and rude people. I made up my mind to call the police if I am ever troubled by this telemarketer or its number again.

Be cautious when answering the phone to unknown numbers. The best bet is to let your answering machine or voicemail get the number. If it is important, they will leave a message. Otherwise, put your home and cell phone numbers in the National Do Not Call Registry, available at www.donotcall.gov, which take about 90 days to go into effect. If a telemarketer calls you once you've belonged to this list for 31 days, you can then report them to the registry. Telemarketers are required to renew their Do Not Call lists every 31 days, which is why it may take so long for those bothersome calls to stop.

I know one thing is for sure - the next time my cell phone rings with an unknown number, I will definitely be on guard - IF I choose to answer!