Telephone Scams: A Personal Account

I got a phone call a few months ago from a woman who said she was with a company (whose name I forget). She was originally calling for a friend of mine (he had been using my phone as his own the summer before so had given out my number) but when I told her that he no longer used my phone, she said that I was also eligible for the special offer she was originally going to make to him. She then said that as a promotional event, the company could send me some information in the mail, such as catalogues and various other mail order sales stuff. She said that I was under no obligation to buy anything, and that by simply giving them my address and looking through the things that they were sending me, the company would give me $500 (or some such amount) worth of gas and an additional amount in airplane vouchers.

Just in case it seemed too good to be true, she went on to explain it (before I even began to ask questions). She said that their hope was that I would buy items from this company's catalogues or recommend them to those around me, which was why they were willing to give me the "freebies." She then proceeded to ask me for my checking account information. She told me that this was simply to verify the fact that I had an active checking account because if I did not, I would not be able to purchase their products.

I became a little nervous about that and began to ask her questions. At this point we had been on the phone for at least fifteen minutes and I could tell that she was starting to get impatient with me. Still, I was worried and asked her how she knew my friend (who she had asked for by name), and if the company had a website. She told me that my friend had done some work with them in the past (she was vague about what kind of work but she mentioned recommending products). She then gave me a website address, simply the company's name.net, and then continued asking for my name, address, account information, etc.

This is when I, determined to look at the website before agreeing to anything (because I have to say, I was enticed by the promise of free gas despite my suspicions), began telling her that I would need more time to consider this and asked could she call me back, or I her? This caused her to become angry and aggressive, telling me she had already told me everything I needed to know and pressuring me for my personal information. As I became more and more hesitant and suspicious, she began yelling at me, claiming I had wasted her time. When I told her that I wouldn't let her talk to me like that, she muttered one more angry condemnation, and then hung up.

Fortunately! After I had gotten off the phone with her, I looked up the website she had given me, which, surprise, did not exist. I then talked to my friend that she had mentioned and he knew nothing of the entire situation. We did figure out that he had posted my phone number (as his) on online job search sites and the woman who called could have easily gotten the number from one of them. I then researched the situation further online, found it to be a specific and fairly common type of scam, and called the number I found on the National Fraud Information Center website (1-800-876-7060) to report the scam.

I was lucky, but I'm sure not everyone the woman called was so lucky. It just goes to show: never give out personal information over the phone, especially involving your checking account or credit card information. Never accept or agree to any phone offers without checking into them (unless you know for sure that they're coming from a reliable source, such as a radio station - and even then, make them prove it). Also, be careful where you post your phone number. Online job search sites may seem safe, but anyone can log onto them pretending to be an employer and gather your information that way.

If you do get a call with an offer that you're interested in and think it may actually be legitimate, tell them that you're busy and ask if they could please call you back. Watch out for people who try to keep you on the phone! Anyone with a legitimate phone offer will not have a problem calling you back at a later time (but be careful, those with fraudulent offers may also agree to this), and that way you'll have time to research the company.

While you're on the phone, ask for lots of information, including the company's name, the owner, what they do and why, what their phone number is, and if they have a website. Then research it online. Go to the website, look it up by name, number, or owner's name, and check it out with the Better Business Bureau.

If you do get a suspicious call that you think may be a scam, there are numbers you can call to report this. This is another good reason to gather information about the company. To report a scam, you can call the following number for the Federal Trade Commission: 1-877-FTC-HELP. You can also visit their website: www.ftc.gov for more information.
Good luck and be careful!