Don't believe anything they say!

The caller, "Dave Foster" stated that I won $1,500,000 and a 2011 Mercedes. He asked if I was an American citizen and he noted that I had no criminal record. Married or widowed? I told him married. (He didn't ask if I was single.) I stayed with him and he helpfully described that I go to a Western Union payment center, like at Walmart, and send $1,850.00 to Rosalind Hawthorne at Carencro, LA 70520. I checked on the internet while he was talking. Then I hung up. I would have liked to follow through with getting as much information as I could but I guess I should let well enough alone. He tried to call back twice and I didn't answer. He may try to call again. He spoke careful English but sometimes his accent momentarily indicated possibly Chinese or Japanese.

This is about the fifth or sixth call from supposed sweepstakes companies in two weeks. I believe the total winnings was up to $15,000,000 and three Mercedes Benz.--and all the signs pointed to Scam Central Unlimited!

I followed up on one call, however. It was from a John Anderson who said that I won $2,000,000 and it was a legitimate win. I definitely would receive the money. I listened to what he had to say, and then he said that all I had to do was send them $385 to defray the cost of sending it through customs, etc. I played along just to see how much information I could get from them without me supplying any personal information.

He asked me if I had any credit cards. Yes, Mastercard and Visa. When I told him I didn't have any money he asked what my credit limit was on the cards. I knew one was $12,000 so I told him. He said he would send me a check for $12,000 and I could pay the money out of that and keep the rest, "just spend the money wisely," he said.

The next day a man with an accent called and asked if I received the check yet. I told him it was only a day later, the mail doesn't normally travel that fast. He called again a couple days later and when I told him I hadn't received the check yet he suggested I could use my credit card, or take a loan out with my car as collateral. I told him I don't work that way.

A day or so later he called again and, again, I had not received the check. He then said he would send it to me himself. What is my address? Well, parting from the caution to not give out information I gave him my home address anyway. That would be the only way I could get solid evidence. At one point he had asked where I banked and I gave him a fictitious name.

It was at that point that I called the local police and got more information about how scam artists operate. The detective told me if I received a check it may be legitimate but somewhere along the line the money would disappear to some secret account somewhere and the bank would not get the money and would hold me liable for the loss.

Finally a check came. It was in a small handwritten envelope, and the check was filled out with my name and signed by one of the parties listed on the check, but there was no amount. When the caller called again and asked, I told him I got the check but there is no dollar amount on it! He informed me that they did not know how much the government would charge for the distribution of funds and he would check now. In a few seconds he told me to make the check out for $9,500.00 and then I can put the money in the bank. He didn't say anything about paying the $385 that was mentioned earlier but he asked me if I was going to go to the bank NOW. I told him I'm working on it. I then gave the check with the envelope to the detective after making a copy of it in case the caller would call again.

The detective meanwhile checked it out. The check was drawn from a bank in Louisiana. The names printed on the check were legitimate, but the man had died, and his wife was now in a nursing home. The bank stated that there was trouble with that account and they closed it.

It was about this time that I was determined to have no more involvement with any more questionable phone calls. It was hassle enough to deal with this one in the attempt to garner evidence for the sake of diminishing the gene pool of telephone scammers. It was giving me a headache. The names of the persons involved were most likely to be fake too. And all this throughout the fact that we're on the DO NOT CALL LIST.

Sometime later I got a call which was evident to be a plea for a donation. I told him I was not interested, but he continued to ask so I asked where he was calling from. He told me an area which was over 50 miles away although the donation for within the county I live in. I then told him that I'm actually on the DO NOT CALL LIST. He replied that it did not apply to charities. I told him it did not seem to apply to anyone because I keep getting phone calls from everybody, foreign and domestic, and I then hung up.

With all the technology around, scamming is definitely out of control, and the ones most affected are the elderly who do not have the capacity to say NO, or just hang up.