I have been sick all day. It started last night. Just a bug or something. Mostly sitting on the couch or laying in my bed to this point. But, that isn't why I'm writing this post.
I usually don't answer my home phone to toll free numbers and such. There is really only one person who calls my home phone number and that is my mother. I've thought about getting rid of my home phone, but while she is still around, I don't know that I can. She used to know my cell phone number, but with her memory problems, she doesn't really remember it. She did call it the other day, but she thought she was calling my oldest sister. I was at work and I answered it, while at the gate, because I was concerned there may be a problem. Again, not why I'm writing this post.
I am writing this post because I DID answer the phone to a toll free number. When I answered it, this young man with a very thick Pakistan or Indian accent asked for me, and totally butchered my name. I had to ask again who they wanted, because it sounded like a combination of my name and my daughter's name that he asked for. When I finally understood that he was asking for me, I told him that I was me. He said he was with the IRS and there was a problem with my account. OK, this really bugged me, because I was doing my taxes early this morning and found out that I am going to have to pay ALOT this year and I have never had to pay before. It completely sucks and I have to figure out where to find the money to pay. Just one of the few consequences of retiring from my old life and starting a new one while being under the age of retirement. Anyway, I digress. This was the conversation in a nutshell, after we had finally realized he was asking for me:
Him: This is the IRS calling, there is a problem with your account. We are doing an audit.
Me: Then I suggest you send me a letter.
Him: Do you realize that you could go to jail for three years?!?!?!?
Me: Then come and get me.
Him: Come and get you? CLICK
OK, I know that the IRS would never make a phone call like that. That is why it didn't concern me. However, I started thinking about people that would get freaked out by that phone call. It's unnerving how many people are out there that will do anything to take advantage of you. I think of my mother getting that phone call. So frustrating!!!
Now, Ted and I have gotten a lot of phone calls like that over the last few years. Microsoft Tech Support, Publisher's Clearing House, the list goes on and on. And when you call them on their shenanigans, they usually resort to foul language before hanging up. But, how many little old folk or uneducated people fall for this stuff? Though this call made me giggle a little bit, it also made me really angry that people are out there just waiting to take advantage of you, me and the rest of the world.
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