Tuesday, January 10, 2012

spam..

...its was one of those afternoons (holidays)..n I was at home...my cousin from Canada was at home too for vacation.
I got a call ...
Me :hello
him:is it Herman?
Me:(I thought of those tel -marketing people ,they suck) before I could say she is not at home...
him: I am calling from treasury department and wanted to talk to Herman..is it her?
Me: yes go ahead this is Harman.
him: I wanted to let you know that you have been selected for $ 5,999from US treasury department in one of our lucky draws granted by President Obama for Indian Americans who have no fault in their credit history and have been a good tax payer all through these years.This proves them to be good citizens.
Me (feeling so proud of myself at this hour)
I asked ... okay... thanks for letting me know so whats the procedure so  is it check or cash?
Him: you have to take a pledge first ..you will not use use this money for any illegal means  no drugs or any illegal arms or ammunition's
ME: I will use this money jus n jus for my personal use only and not for any illegal purpose.
Him: so gimme your cell number!
Me:why?
Him: lady you will go to western union jus now and show your US ID and other papers required to collect the cash ,so to walk you through the procedure I need to talk to you through your cell when you are there.
ME: ohk fine ,but whats your name and number  your id I need to know before goin ahead so that I know whom I am talking to..
Him:My name is Thomas James ..US id blah blah blah :)
I looked at the clock it was 3pm I had to go to the salon had an appointment but so stuck here...anyways lets get this money first ..I thought..
Him: so as you reach there call me and I will tell you what to do and how to get the cash.
ME:do I need to pay anything upfront?
Him:yes $300 and that will be refunded immediately ..when you get cash.
ME: I thought why take money upfront if you give me back immediately? whts the purpose of paying that money upfront? but said nothing to him.
..I kicked my cousin s butt .. who was smiling at me and told her..lotto ..time to partyyyyyyyyy
But lets call hubby dear and give him the news too before we go to western union..
 called hubby at work...
Hubby :yaa say..
me: we have a cash from US treasury granted by Obama for paying taxes and having no fault in credit history its a lucky draw..and my name is there.. among Indian Americans...I got an official call ..
hubby : I could hear him laughing ... ok tell me ..why do you get these kinds of calls only ..why not me?
Me:okay I don't know but I have to go to western union and collect  cash..
Him.. that guy whosoever he is ..give me his number he is trying to con you..
and Obama is not our MAMA (moms brother) to distribute cash like that ... this guy will extract money from you and nothing in return...
Me: but I have his id and phone number and official details he gave it to me...jus note it down ..its REAL.
Him : give me few minutes and I will take out all the details and let you know..

In between the same guy Thomas James was calling me I could see his id on my land-line,I dint answer the call...


my hubby called me on my cell and told me there are many cases reported this month of this spam ..so don't answer anyone and don't go anywhere.
..and let me talk to him when I come home.

feeling so sad n bad lost all money :)) ...rightly judged by hubby why are these fake calls for me only? 
But Thank God I am saved!

( let me tell you most of the fake callers ask for you bank details n a/c numbers but in this case it sounded real ..could not be mistaken as all official ids were given extension number with pledge and background noise which sounded like office..and when I called back it had recording officially made to sound real..the only thing which made me surprised was$300 ;)

13 comments:

Bikram said...

clever people .. so many frauds these days .. the emails the fone calls this and that

good job

i have one funda .. IF something is toooo TRUE TO BE REAL then it is what it is tooo true to be real ..

Bikram's

Uma said...

Hey Harman, I used to receive similar Govt. Grant calls. The person used to bug me a lot and used to say its free. When I said I am not interested, the lady asked me if I understood English properly. These calls are a headache..

Jack said...

Harman,

Thank your stars for saving that $ 300. There are so many such persons who keep sending mails or sms or call up and when one deposits upfront money there is no trace of such persons. I get such offers at least once in a fortnight or so. There have been some arrests too here on such incidents. Be cautious.

Take care

Amrit said...

I got similar calls so many times. Mostly it is Indian person who calls. It is so bad as it is not really spam...it is FRAUD

R. Ramesh said...

good to hear taht my dear friend, u, has been saved from scamsters...hey y did u even entertain the call so much yar..this kinds of calls and sms r common here...but mostly people laugh it off...anywy...take care buddy...

hamaarethoughts.com said...

@ bick..
you know what with caller Id we cannot guess ..its fake or real..I have missed so many imp calls in this confusion..
..and this guy sounded so real..too good in conning people..
thanks to hubby who took a right action!

hamaarethoughts.com said...

@ A..whatever it might be ..but he had his homework done before extracting money...N I am sure many wud have trusted him!

hamaarethoughts.com said...

@ramesh ..you know sometimes its such a confusion as calls frm india too have different numbers n some as unknown numbers...
Now last yr I got call frm US treasury which was real how can we know??
the sad part is you cannot judge..specially if its made real!

hamaarethoughts.com said...

@UMA..its sad..they try to target ladies ... n not understanding English is jus they wanna con you!

hamaarethoughts.com said...

@jack
Uncle..these people here have a big industry ..and make millions..every year one of these kind are caught but still its booming!
its strange..good n evil go hand in hand!

Rahul Bhatia said...

Good you did not get conned! There are many trying to sell dreams to gullible and hoodwink them!

Irfanuddin said...

its so common these days...even here in India people use to receive such calls, emails n sms and unfortunately somehow few people falls into trap....

The Beautifier said...

These type of frauds are so rampant all over the world....to be honest I am surprised that you didn't come across that one before...anyway, your hubby was right...he saved you from from getting conned out!