- Impact
- 252
I got a phone call tonight. It was from a number that had only 8 digits in it. The guy had a Russian accent. He told me that I had been granted a grant from the Governmental Grant Association. $5000, to be exact. No strings attached; I didn't have to pay it back. I just needed to verify my bank name. They wouldn't need anything else from me. At this point in the conersation, I asked the guy to repeat this back to me because I couldn't hear him well. He then accused me of speaking French. I said no, I speak English. "Oh, well you need to take English lessons because your English isn't very good." I said, "Maybe we should take English lessons together because I'm having trouble understanding you." He said to me, "I don't speak English. I've been speaking Spanish."
COULD THIS GET ANY WEIRDER? I was laughing so hard.
Then he asked if I was an American citizen. I said that I was a proud US citizen. He said that was actually why I won this grant -- because I'm a good citizen and "way smart." I talked about being a citizen for a while, and then he asked me if I was giving him the runaround because I had kept him on the phone for 15 minutes, and I didn't seem very interested in my grant.
Eventually, I said a bank that I am not a member with. The guy said, "Good, good, now I believe the routing numbers on your check are blah, blah, blach" (Clearly, once they get a bank name and know your location, they can get the routing number.) "That's all you need from me, right?" I asked. "Yes, yes. Oh wait, what are those numbers after those numbers? I didn't write them down." Me: "Ohhhh! So you want me to give you my account numbers? You think that I'm a complete idiot. I gotcha. Never call this number again."
It really scares me to know that there are people out there who fall for this stuff. Geez. But it entertained me for a few minutes. I still can't believe that the guy tried to tell me that he wasn't speaking English. I think they need to train these guys a bit better
-Allan
COULD THIS GET ANY WEIRDER? I was laughing so hard.
Then he asked if I was an American citizen. I said that I was a proud US citizen. He said that was actually why I won this grant -- because I'm a good citizen and "way smart." I talked about being a citizen for a while, and then he asked me if I was giving him the runaround because I had kept him on the phone for 15 minutes, and I didn't seem very interested in my grant.
Eventually, I said a bank that I am not a member with. The guy said, "Good, good, now I believe the routing numbers on your check are blah, blah, blach" (Clearly, once they get a bank name and know your location, they can get the routing number.) "That's all you need from me, right?" I asked. "Yes, yes. Oh wait, what are those numbers after those numbers? I didn't write them down." Me: "Ohhhh! So you want me to give you my account numbers? You think that I'm a complete idiot. I gotcha. Never call this number again."
It really scares me to know that there are people out there who fall for this stuff. Geez. But it entertained me for a few minutes. I still can't believe that the guy tried to tell me that he wasn't speaking English. I think they need to train these guys a bit better
-Allan