By Dorothy Rosby
You probably know that you should never answer the phone when the call comes from an unknown number. I know that too. But for some reason, I did it anyway a few days ago. And I was surprised when a real, live person asked for me by my name. “That’s me,” I said cautiously.
The caller claimed to be from a large organization I do business with. Then she asked for my address. “Wait,” I said. “You should already have it.”
“I need to confirm your identity before I discuss your account.”
“I need to confirm your identity before I discuss my account,” I said.
“It is our policy to ask a few questions just to make sure we are not disclosing confidential information to someone who should not have it.”
“And it is my policy not to release information to anyone unless I made the call.”
“But how do I know you are who you say you are?”
“How do I know it’s you?”
We were at a dead end. We both hung up, annoyed. I did a little research and found that the caller was indeed who she said she was, so I added her number to my contact list. In the meantime, she was probably sitting at her desk thinking about a new job – another victim of the scam epidemic.
I didn’t call her back, so I still don’t know what she wanted. Maybe I should have. I could have explained to her that it’s not just her. I don’t trust anyone anymore. But I’m not paranoid; everyone really is out to get me. Or at least it seems that way. I regularly get fake text messages, spam emails, and messages from fake social media accounts. Half of my calls are from scammers. My own grandson called today asking for money. He obviously knows I would do anything for my grandchildren – if I even had grandchildren.
So yes, I may be cautious, but I think I have the right to be. It’s not easy though. Avoiding scams means being constantly on guard and spending precious time researching things I’d rather not know about.
When I opened my computer one morning a few weeks ago, I was greeted with a pop-up message telling me that my antivirus had expired and that I should renew it immediately given the scams that are out there these days. “Ha,” I scoffed. “Scams like this one, you mean!” And I deleted the pop-up.
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