Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Day 149: Another Facebook Scam




My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 149: Another Facebook Scam

Most of us pride ourselves on cleverness. When a scam is going around, we either know about it, or we think we’re smart enough not to fall for it. However, scammers came in all kinds of different forms and when one of those forms is a trusted friend, the scam is not so easy to recognize.

On Sunday morning I received a text from Steve (not his real name) starting with a simple “Hey”
Wiping sleep from my eyes I texted a “Hi” back.

“How are you?”
“Good. How are you?”
“Very good and very excited.”
“Oh?”
“I came into some money. $100,000.”
“You’re joking. Did you win that with the lotto?”
“No, through a grant program that is aimed at the unemployed, elderly, disabled, students, etc.”
“And you qualified?”
“Sure did. UPS delivered the money yesterday.”
“UPS delivered the money?”
“Yes. The online agent asked me if I wanted a cheque or cash and I said cash.”
“And UPS delivered that?”
“Yes. $100,000. I paid off my bills and took the rest to the bank.”
“That’s great. Congratulations.”

I found it a little strange that UPS delivers money but okay, if Steve said so, I wasn’t going to doubt him.

“You can get the same grant,” he went on. “I saw your name on the list. If you contact the online agent, you can get the grant too.”

It didn’t occur to me that this could be a scam. After all, this was Steve I was ‘talking’ to and why would he lie to me? The amount of money was also believable. Talk of millions of dollars would have raised a red flag, but $100,000 seemed reasonable.

“Contact the agent now,” Steve concluded. “His number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. Tell him that a friend saw your name on the list.”
“Okay, I will. Thanks.”

Moments later I fired off a text to the number provided and within minutes I received a text back.

“Your name is indeed on our list of grant receivers. Since we place high value on security, I will need your personal information so there can be no duplication of the grant.”
“Okay, I understand.”
“Are you ready to fill in the form now?”
“Yes”

I was mentally doing a dance of joy. $100,000 … could this be for real? Common sense told me this was too good to be true, but this message came from Steve and I trusted him.

Moments later I received a set of questions from the online agent:

Full name:
Address:
Gender:
Date of Birth:
Copy of Driver License or other photo I.D.:

Hm, now I did see a red flag. I’m notoriously hesitant of sharing my personal information, especially where it comes to government issued documentation. Before doing that, I wanted to verify with Steve that this grant program was for real and he had indeed received $100,000.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get hold of Steve, so I tried his girlfriend next. Doreen (not her real name) told me Steve has stepped outside for a moment, but he would be back shortly. When I got to talk to Steve, he sounded a little flat, not at all like a man who had just received a sizeable amount of money.

“Hi Steve, congratulations on the money.”
“What money?”
“The hundred thousand dollars.”
“What hundred thousand dollars?”
“You didn’t receive hundred thousand dollars from the grant program?”
He immediately knew what I was referring to.
“It’s a scam. My Facebook account was hacked and several of my friends were contacted by the scammer.”
“Oh I see.”
"You didn't fall for it, did you?"
"I did, sort of, but I didn't give him any vital information."
"Do you really think that if I won $100,000 I would tell everyone about it?"

That made sense. Mentally I saw $100,000 go out the window.

The scammer didn’t give up easily though. Throughout the day he send me messages such as

“When can you send me photo I.D.?”
“We have been waiting for you, we have a lot of people attending to.”
And then his last one … “Should we terminate your grant?”

This, I suppose, was to spur me into action. I took action of a different kind, I notified the authorities, if for nothing else than to have a case number in the event of identity theft. I kept Steve’s name out of the conversation. Not that my call was necessary. Mr. Scammer was known to them and an investigation was underway. Mr. Scammer’s days were numbered. They knew who and where he was and his scam would soon be terminated.

Friday, November 2, 2018

Day 148: Inspector Greyson


My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 148: Inspector Greyson

Can you guess what Greyson is looking at? No, it’s not a bird and it’s not a mouse, what has him so fascinated are … construction workers. Unfortunately for Greyson, he won’t see the completion of the parking project as it’s getting way too cold for him to be outside.

Just two weeks ago, we had a day when it was 28 degrees (82.4 degrees), followed by 24 degrees (75.2 degrees) and then suddenly we dropped to 11 degrees (51.8 degrees). It’s been that way ever since.

Charlotte, Holly, Halley, and Greyson are as keen as ever to go out on the balcony, but their reaction varies.

Charlotte and Holly hop outside but almost immediately change their mind, clearly wondering … what the hell happened?

Halley and Greyson love to be out in the fresh air but I fear that the air might be a little too fresh and they might get a cold. Now that the door stays closed, they are far from impressed.



So, the construction workers will have to muddle through without inspector Greyson. The last picture I posted was this one.


Since then, the men have made good progress. See for yourself …









 Meanwhile, at home, Greyson went to the vet last week for his third inoculation and rabies shot. When I pitched the news to him, he didn’t seem to trust me all that much.





The visit went off without a hitch though, he was perfectly behaved, got a treat when we got home, after which he took a long nap. The journey to the vet and back and getting pricked clearly left him exhausted.


As for Halley and Holly … these two geniuses took a liking to Greyson’s carrier. Just to be clear, we have two carriers, a small one and a large one. The large one is spacious enough for a Poodle, yet under normal circumstances, it takes Dieter and me to get a cat into the carrier. Whoever needs to go into that carrier fights us all the way. Yet now, both Halley and Holly went willingly into the carrier and not the big one but the small one. I can imagine the conversation went a bit as follows:


"The carrier is mine, all mine."


"Mom, come here and tell Holly to get out."


"Can you stop taking pictures and tell Holly to move?"


"It's a snug fit, but it will do."

Of course, it was only a matter of time before Holly deftly kicked Halley out of her hiding place and claimed it back as her own. When I found out she was severely reprimanded and was given a timeout.