Tuesday, November 6, 2007

A Scam With A Personal Touch

Has this ever happened to you? Has a scam artist tried so hard to convince you of his veracity that he’s called you?
We came home mid-afternoon yesterday to find a message on our answering machine. A man with a thick African accent, ostensibly calling from England, said he’d sent me an email and told me to check it.
I couldn’t make out most of what he said although the plaintive demands to check my email were clear.

My caller’s email wove a sad tale of being a Catholic priest with HIV who’d had his liver removed last year. Would I please help him disburse his 425,000,000 pounds to orphanages in my local area?

I had a good laugh over this. He greeted me by my first name on the phone and used it in the subject line of the email to fool me into thinking we knew one another.
His email appealed to both greed and a sense of compassion geared to helping the orphans. This is a brilliant move, especially with the added twist of phone contact for that personal touch.

It leaves me to wonder how does a poor, liverless priest with HIV get that kind of money?

And as my husband noted, he may not have a liver, “but he sure has guts.”

7 comments:

the Bag Lady said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
the Bag Lady said...

Gee, Leah - you have all the fun!

How does it feel to be contacted from beyond the grave?(I'm pretty sure that even being a Catholic priest isn't going to keep you alive without a liver...)

Do you have call-display? What's the area code for ghosts?

Actually, I'd be a little worried about this guy connecting your email address and phone number...

Sorry for the comment delete - bad spelling day.

Leah J. Utas said...

dfBag Lady - I suspect he got the info on me from a hypnotherapist finder database. It's happened before.
I wish I had the area code for ghosts. I have so many questions...

Anonymous said...

Well, your telemarketing calls are at least more interesting than mine! I get mostly political donation calls and the damn firemans charity group that apparently has nothing to do with actual fire fighters. They are quite aggressive.

But no liverless priests yet!

Hilary said...

There must be fifty ways to lose your liver...

Reb said...

E-mail him back and tell him that we have no local orphanages, but you would be glad to disburse the money amongst the orphans you know. ie: Sis & I & our brothers, You & your Sis, our cousins, our uncle, your in-laws...after all the whole of the world is populated by orphans!

Oooh, I'm bad aren't I? Don't forget to mention that you appreciate the contact from beyond.

Leah J. Utas said...

Crabby - Until the walking liverless have called, well, you just haven't had a scam.

Good one Hilary.

Reb - I know plenty of orphans who'd give that money a good home.