The Con Artists are Out to Get Me: OR Suburban Paranoia

Possible Con Artist One

A man called Monday, asking to speak to Bobby. It took a while to convince the Befuddled Old Man there was no Bobby. A minute later he called back. "Still no Bobby here. Really, you have the wrong number." A minute after that he called back again and left a message, because I had already assigned his number to my "nuisance" ringtone. The next two days he left messages that he still wanted to talk to Bobby FullName about "the shells and casings for the auction."

I asked Gary if I should try to find Bobby FullName's auction company and he cried, "No! Drop it! They just want to get you to talk to them! They get paid every time you talk to them!"

This doesn't seem like a good business model to me. However, the next day I checked my messages and there was another wrong number message. A panicked young man insisted I call back, otherwise he would lose his job. I felt worried ... until I noticed it was the same number as the Befuddled Old Man.

I still don't get who pays these fine actors, and for what.

Possible Con Artist Two

You recall I requested a Birth Control Mold and got a Labia Mold. I contacted the vendor, even though I could implement many gross menopause scenarios with the labia mold, the best being obscuring the labia with a pink jawbreaker. Prolapsed uterus candy.

The eBay vendor who sent the Mistaken Labia has asked I send him a photo of the Labia Mold and then they will send me the Birth Control Mold.

That sounds fishy to me. Is sending a photo of transparent plastic labia not a violation of eBay's terms and conditions? I'd go ahead and send a censored version, but I don't even see how I could send an image if I stick to eBay's montored messages.

Ooo. I could give them the number for the Befuddled Old and Panicked Young Men and have them call me there. "No, there's no Ellen here." If they don't pick up they'd get a message about sending labia pictures.

Comments

[~]

Check the area code online. There are several area codes that LOOK like and act like they'd be regular US codes, but they're actually for Caribbean islands where US laws don't apply, and if you call certain numbers there they act like 900 numbers, and they can "legally" charge you a small fortune for the call. So, yeah, maybe you're being targeted.

When I get a wrong number call, I ask what number they were dialing. If they answer with my number, I tell them to look the number up again. Usually it's a case where they transposed digits or finger-checked, and I tell them to try dialing again. I never get another call from the same person. If it's a case of a message left, I look the number/area code up online before calling to let them know their message was misdirected. So far so good.

[Amy in StL]

I get messages for a fiberglass repair place. I looked it up and found out it's my number but with a 636 area code instead of the classic 314. I'd look up the number just so you can figure out the confusion. People are grateful when I tell them it's in the 636 area code instead of just telling them off.

[Mrs. Hall]

SEE NOW. i can't get access to reader or whatever i switched too after reader. so i come here after googling your blog because i don't have it bookmarked and all the blogs i loved are gone because i didn't back up my reader.

but your blog is worth the effort of finding it every time. EVERY TIME!!!

LABIA!!!!!!

:)

[The Queen]

~ - I love reverse phone lookup. Found out it is a A Hated Telemarketer.
Amy in StL - I thought about that, but first I checked the internet and it is such a hated number that I feel honored they tried to con me with drama, since usually they just start in on selling cruises.
Mrs. Hall - I called eBay about it today to find how to send the (censored) photo through their system. The indian woman I spoke with claimed to be unfamiliar with the term Labia. I said it was not germane to the real issue. I can picture what the man next to her thought.