So about the scammer.
I got this call. Someone had a heavy Indian accent and it was very noisy in the background. The person on the call said "You have won a $100 Wal Mart gift card. It is free, I just need your mailing address and you will get it within 3 days."
I said "That's great. My address is
742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, Ohio, 90210."
The scammer didn't pick up on the reference to The Simpsons or Beverly Hills 90210, but his computer must have told him that the ZIP code matched Beverly Hills, because he said "You are telling me that your ZIP code is in Beverly Hills but that you are in Ohio."
So I kinda stalled and said "Oh did I say 90210? I just got home from work and I'm confused and been watching the TV show a lot. My zip code is... um..." I looked up Ohio zip codes. He picked up on this, asking "You don't know your own ZIP code." But then I gave him an Ohio ZIP code (one for Cleveland) and we moved along.
After that, he tried to read back the information, but he kept getting it wrong. Mostly he transposed numbers, but we went through this exchange:
Scammer: "I have your city as Cleveland, is that right?"
Me: "No. It's Springfield. We have the same ZIP code as Cleveland."
Scammer: "Okay. So your address is 742 Evergreen Street?"
Me: "No. Evergreen TERRACE. T-E-R-R-A-C-E"
Scammer: "Okay. Evergreen Street."
Me: "No. TERRACE."
Scammer: "Oh okay. Evergreen Terrace. And that is in Cleveland?"
Me: "No. It's SPRINGFIELD."
Scammer: "Your zip code is Cleveland. You live in Cleveland, right?"
Me: "No, Springfield. It's the same zip code, but different city."
Eventually he passed me off to his supervisors. Busy fraud rings have managerial layers just like real corporations. The supervisor told me much of the same things as the previous guy ("So your address is 724 Evergreen Street in Cleveland?"), but we eventually got to the business of him asking for my credit card number.
I wasn't going to give him my real credit card number obviously, so I went to my kitchen and started reading off random numbers from the UPC codes and nutritional information from stuff in my kitchen. It progressed something like this:
Scammer: "Okay can I have your Visa number? It should be 16 digits starting with the number 4."
Me: "Okay... my number is... 4132 3453 3421 8709."
Scammer: "I have that as 4132 3453 3421 8709. Is that correct?"
Bear in my that when he reads these numbers back to me, I'm not listening at all. It's not important to listen.
Me: "Yes that's right."
Scammer: "That doesn't seem to be the right number. Can you read that to me again?"
Me: "Yes, my credit card number is 4001 3217 4508 3421."
Scammer: "Okay 4001 3217 4508 3421. Is that right?"
Me: "Yes."
Scammer: "It's still not working. Are you sure that you have the numbers right? Do you have your credit card in front of you?"
Me: "Yes. Are you an idiot? I told you twice, my credit card number is 4665 3240 6432 1010."
Scammer: "Let me transfer you to a supervisor."
So I was transferred to a 3rd scammer, a slightly more aggressive lady who's accent wasn't quite as thick.
Level 3 Scammer: "Sir we are having trouble processing your credit card. You seem to be giving us different numbers. Can you confirm that your credit card number is 4665 3240 6432 1010?"
Me: "Yes. It's 4378 3436 8590 2010".
Level 3 Scammer: "Those aren't the numbers I read to you. You are giving us different numbers!"
Me: "What are you talking about? I told you several times already! My credit card number is 4670 5543 6313 8109."
Level 3 Scammer: "That's not what you said before. Can you confirm your number is 4665 3240 6432 1010?"
Me (angrily): "Yes! It's 4703 4315 8863 9849! How many times do we have to go over this?
"
Level 3 Scammer: "That isn't a valid number sir!".
Me (yelling): "Of course it's a valid number! I used credit card number 4560 7765 4234 8973 to buy gas just this morning!"
Level 3 Scammer: "You bought gas? You could not buy gas that is the wrong number sir."
Me (still yelling): "How the hell is it the wrong number? Visa just gave me these numbers! There is no right and wrong! There is no moral issue at stake here. They are just numbers issued by the Visa corporation and you morons can't process a simple transaction when I tell you my credit card number is 4426 3190 0045 8954!"
At this point she abruptly hung up.
I'm paraphrasing, of course, but that's about how it went down. I wish I had been able to record the whole thing.
Topic: Completely Random Thoughts (Read 2006557 times)
