Friday, October 13, 2006

Scam City

When I first started at this job, I got a call stating we had ordered toner and they just needed to verify a model number and then they'd send it out. I assumed it had been ordered by the person I had replaced, so I gave them the model number. A few days later we received 2 toner cartridges and a bill for about $1,700 that stated I had ordered them. Come to find out, it was a big scam that you can read about here and here. (That last one calls me "unwitting". I was new!)

So anyway over the past month I've received about 20 phone calls from different people asking for the model number of our copier, and when I ask them what company they are with they hang up. Today was different. This is how the conversation went:

Guy: "I'm calling to update our records. What's the model number of your copy machine?"
Me: "I would ask what company you're with, but I know you'll just hang up."
Guy: "What are you talking about? I'm not going to hang up. I'm with Office Copiers, Inc."
Me: "Never heard of it."
Guy: "You've probably always talked to Tom Anderson."
Me: "Never heard of him."
Guy: "You're at (INSERT OUR ADDRESS HERE), right?"
Me: "You can find that in the Yellow Pages. Let me guess, you're going to send us toner and claim we ordered it and bill us for it."
Guy: "No. I'm just calling to update our records."
Me: "Well, you're not with the company we order toner from or the company that maintenances our copiers, so I'm not going to give you a model number."
Guy: "You probably usually talk to Mike."
Me: "Never heard of him."
Guy: "I could stop by later if that would be easier."
Me: "Even if you come here, I still won't give you any information."
Guy: "I can hold if you want to find someone to approve it."
Me: "I'm the one who would approve it. And I'm not going to."
Guy: "I'll hold all day if you want me to."
Me: "You can hold if you want, but I'm not going to give you any information."
Guy: "I'll just call back later." And then he hung up.

9 comments:

Courtney said...

Well, he could get an E for effort.

Aubrey said...

That's the truth. I think he really was willing to hold all day.

Cameron said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Cameron said...

So from whom do you usually order- Tom or Mike? Mike is a heck of nice guy, and a great salesman, but I don't care too much for Tom.

Tatum said...

A co-worker of mine had a similar scam. Someone called her house claiming to be the phone company and asked her to put him on hold because they were working on the lines. She put him on hold for a few minutes, and he called and did the same thing a couple times throughout the day. When she got her phone bill there were calls made that day to foreign countries that were super expensive. (Probably Terrorists.)

the Painters said...

People are stupid

David said...

Seriously though, what's the model number to your copy machine?

Aubrey said...

I'm not sure if you're referring to me and the headmaster's friend as stupid for falling for it, or the scammers for doing it. Or both.

Carlos said...

donotcall.gov will allow you to register your phone against this kind of calls. If you do not do it soon, you will be hearing from all sorts of people.