Well folks, the Angry Princess nearly got scammed today. It's embarrassing. For a moment, I was in fear of my life and actually had the police come to my house. In the interest of the greater good, here is my story...
How many times have you been watching a news story about some poor unsuspecting fool who was defrauded in some way and think to yourself "What an idiot. That will never happen to me." I like to think of myself is trusting but not gullible. I guess I need to work on my A game because after retelling this tale to the police, I know exactly what mistakes I made.
We are all wary of scams and typically know not to give out or "confirm" our SSN, DL, Debit or Credit Card info over the phone. We know enough not to get sucked into free vacation scams. But, the Publisher's Clearing House is a different story. That's a legitimate sweepstakes. Right?
Here's how it all went down. In my own defense I was skeptical from the outset. But, intrigued enough go along until I didn't feel comfortable. And, that's what they were hoping for.
Approximately 9 am this morning I received a call on my cell phone, which is a number I generally don't give out unless I am ok with getting a call on it. The only reason I have a home number anymore is as a gatekeeper for telemarketers, scammers, etc.
It came through my phone as a legitimate number, not private caller, etc. The person on the line asked me if I remembered sending in a Publisher's Clearing House entry, which I did about a year ago. So, I said yes. He said, I'm happy to tell you that you are our 2nd place winner for this month's drawing. (Still skeptical, but willing to go along). I was given an 800 number, extension and a contact name (James Chin) to call back. They told me Mr. Chin would confirm everything and provide me with next steps. I was told not to worry, this was legitimate and that at no time would anyone ask me for anything. I was assured that this call was being recorded.
I called the number back. Mr. Chin was "happy" to inform me that I had been selected as the 2nd place winner in this month's Publisher's Clearing House drawing. He told me that a UPS driver, was about an hour away with a check and
that an actuary, an FBI agent and a presenter would be coming to my
house to present me with a check and a new car. He confirmed my address, name and number. (he had my name and number already, I confirmed the address by rattling it off to him like it was my job) (Mistake #2) \
He then told me the amount of the check $995,000 and the car was a 2014 Mercedez Benz S-Class sedan worth over $92,000. As if he knew the wheels were turning about what the taxes on that kind of award would be, he then told me that 95% of the taxes had already been covered and the actual check was less those taxes. He said that I would only be responsible for 5% of the taxes. And that I could either pay those directly to the IRS or they could take care of it and deduct from the check prior to depositing in my account He told me the car had already been registered for 1 year and that I could start driving it today. Honestly, I was still skeptical. Sensing that I wasn't as excited as I should be after winning such a large sum of money and car, he prodded me with "This is a great day for you. How do you plan to spend the money." I said "I don't know. This is kind of surreal and I have a hard time believing this is not a scam." Mr. Chin reassured me saying that this was real and that no one was going to ask me for anything. I was also asked if I looked presentable because I wouldn't want to look tacky for the presentation. I was asked then if I wanted the presentation to be public or private. And, not wanting the world to know that I'd just won nearly a million dollars, I said private. (Mistake #3)
At this point, I was asked if there was a Walmart nearby. I said yes
that there was one about 5 minutes from my house. He then told me that I
would need to go to Walmart and get a registration card. It sounded
odd, but plausible and at this point, no one had asked me for anything
other than to confirm my address. Mr. Chin assured me that he would stay on the line with me the whole time. I locked the house up and got in the car to go to Walmart. All the while I was still on the line with Mr. Chin. When my engine roared to life he said "wow, what kind of car do you drive." I responded Red Mustang (Mistake #4). I cannot explain why I did something so colossally stupid.
As I was driving I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Since I was hands free with blue tooth in my car, and I can talk and text at the same time on my phone, I sent a text to my husband saying "If I turn up dead today, it was a Publisher's Clearing House Scam". That's all I had time for. But, in the back of my mind, something still seemed kind of off. So, if I was gonna get killed for being an idiot, I wanted someone to at least ask some questions.
Mr. Chin's reasoning for wanting to be on the call with me was so that he could help me get the registration card I needed. I was still half on the hook. He said, "let me know when you are parked." I did. And, that's when he made his attempt to reel in his big fish.
"Mrs. Angell, I'm going to need to you go into Walmart Money Center and "purchase" two Paypal Green Dot Money Pack Cards. He asked me to repeat the card names and even spell them. I did. He then told me to put $1,000 on the first card and $975 on the second card. This will serve as your registration." He said to tell the cashier that the money was for personal use and that it was not being sent anywhere. In my head I was like "I KNEW IT!" My verbal response was "Absolutely not. I am not doing that." Note: only about 20 minutes have passed since the first call. I said "there is no way I'm going in there an doing that. Once I purchase those cards, they are as good as cash and anyone could steal them from me. You have my address. You know where I am and I'm not doing that."
He then told me "Mrs. Angell, you are thinking about this in the wrong way. No one is going to take anything from you. We are trying to present you with your winnings. This is a gift from God." Once he said that, I got the creepiest feeling. Agitated, I said "Do you live in this world? Do you watch the news? This could be an elaborate scheme to assault me and steal nearly $2000." Again, he tried to reassure me "Mrs. Angell you are thinking about this in the wrong way. You have been blessed with an amazing gift." I said, "Ok then, if this is legitimate you won't mind if I come back accompanied by a police officer for my own protection." He asked "why would you do that? No one is going to do anything to you." I said, "It's for my own personal safety. Surely, the Publisher's Clearing House understands people wanting to protect themselves right?" This is when he finally snapped. He said "you are just being stupid." I said, "Now I know this is a scam." he said, "If you don't want to accept this amazing gift, I will just go to the next person behind you and I'm sure they will be more grateful." I said, "You do that because I don't want anything badly enough to risk my safety and I'm smart enough to know that the REAL Publisher's Clearing House would never require me to give them money. Besides, you said in the beginning I would not be asked for anything. That's a blatant lie because your asking me to make a nearly $2000 purchase"
He really lost it at this point and started hurling curse words at me and told me that he knew where I lived and that he was going to kill me. He said "you stupid f**king B**tch I am coming to your house to slit your throat you f**king Whore. I hung up the phone and got really scared because it sunk in that he really did know where I lived. He had lured me from my home. I was alone. I couldn't remember if he'd asked if anyone was home with me. But, I thought he might have. I'll admit that I began to cry. For the first time in my life I was scared for my personal safety. I immediately called the police and told them what happened. An officer met me at my home and made sure that everything was secure.
To the credit of the Hendersonville Police Department, they took all of information that I'd captured and asked if they could pretend to be my husband and call the numbers back. I agreed. The officer then assured me that in most of these cases, the caller isn't even in the country. He said that the likely next step would have been to get me to mail the cards somewhere. I can report that the Hendersonville PD actually did follow the lead. A few minutes ago, I received a voicemail from the officer who visited my home. He had traced the phone numbers I provided him back to Jamaica.
So, I am comforted knowing that it's not likely that anyone is going to show up to slit my throat. I'm also comforted by the fact that there are at least 5 guns in this house and enough ammo to take out any would be attacker. Whether or not, I could actually pull the trigger under duress is up for debate.
What does disturb me is that I allowed this to happen. Aren't we all confident that "this would never happen to me?" I know I was. These guys were good. All they needed was a thread of truth to get me to comply. The Publisher's Clearing House is probably the only trusted Sweepstakes in America. Most of us are probably not going to say, thanks. Glad I won. but, you can keep your money and your car because I don't trust you.
Back to the buzz words I mentioned in the beginning. We know not to confirm financial details or anything that would allow a person to steal our identity. We never think about not confirming our address, the car we drive or whether or not we are home alone. As I read this its seems like common sense. But, if someone has talked to you long enough and gained your trust with legitimate information, it is possible to let your guard down.
The harsh reality is that in the 15 minutes I was in the car driving to walmart, someone could have broken into my home and stolen all of my belonging. Or, worse, I could have made a $2000 purchase only to have them waiting at my home to kill me over it.
I was lucky today. I was also stupid. But, I'm sharing my idiocy in the hope that if anyone else gets a call like this, they'll just hang up and carry on with their day.
Cheers!
The Angry Princess
