Scams: Troubling signs of our times
To the editor:
Three weeks ago our phone rang and the caller called my wife by name.
“You have won the Walmart customer appreciation second prize of $35,000 plus a big screen TV.” My wife was immediately suspicious, and when she said she did not enter any contest, the man said, “hold on just a minute while I check something; it has your husband’s name, Robert, on the entry.”
The next question asked is “are you going to be home,” as we want to deliver your prize in the next hour and a half. All you have to do is go to CVS or Radio Shack and buy a $150 certificate; and do you have a savings account?” My wife said we do not have a CVS and that she did not know where Radio Shack was located. The caller said, “Well, you can buy it at Walmart.”
She called Walmart to alert them of the scam, and it was the first they had heard of this “contest.” They advised us to call the State Police, which we did, giving them the information. Later that day, a customer called Walmart in Presque Isle and inquired about buying a $250 certificate for the contest he had won.
Since that initial call, we have received numerous calls, which we have not answered. Today without checking, I answered the phone and it was the same deal. They wanted to deliver the check to our house. The calls came from a cell phone in Jamaica, it read cell phone JM 876-850-8520.
Once you have the money order and give them the numbers, they can cash it. They then are unable to come to your home with the prize money; but they will deposit it in your savings account. If you are gullible enough to give them your account number, they will clean out your account. These people are very smooth on the phone. I do not understand why Walmart and the state and federal authorities do not take steps to have this operation shut down.
This is just one of many scams going around. A trooper told us that a lady mortgaged her house for $20,000 and sent the money, because she was going to receive millions. A single mother of three received a check for $3,500 with the instructions to cash the check, keep $700 for her trouble and mail the $2,800. She now owes the bank $2,800 as the check was no good.
Bob Tweedie
Westfield
