A couple of weeks ago, I received an interesting piece of mail--addressed to me from one of those "Who's Who" places. Seems they have recently chosen me--ME!--to represent the professional and business community of my town in their 2009 edition of "Who's Who Among Executives and Professional Woman". Wow! Out of a huge town of 3,000 they picked ME!
I know how those "Who's Who" deals work. You let them list your name among thousands of others, and pay a big price for the book just to see your name in print. All it takes is a Google search to find out about this outfit or anyone else. I've had countless "charities" call asking for money, and I tell them I'll check them out on the Internet first. They always say, "Our website is www.yaddayaddayadda.com".
C'mon...do you think any scam artist's website is going to come out and say he is a blatant crook and will take you for every nickel they can get? What I found out about this particular Who's Who place is that when you send in the whole 1/3-page application, you will receive a call and some slick salesperson will try to talk you into giving them $800-$1,000 for the lifetime membership. But hey, in the letter they said they selected me "based on my current standing as well as criteria from executive and professional rosters" (translation: they bought a mailing list that contained my name and address). Maybe a lifetime membership in such an organization might help me realize my aspiring executive and professional goals by networking me with thousands of other women who were scammed into giving these guys a thousand bucks for nothing.
Funny--even though I was on this executive/professional roster, the application asked me for the company I work for, the industry, and my personal specialty. Geez...personal specialty? That could be any number of things, and the line to list them is only about seven inches long. Maybe I could attach a few pages outlining my personal specialties. Let's see...I make good homemade bread, pizzas, and cheesecake. I can knit, sew, and crochet. My spelling ability is amazing--well, except for that occasional typo, but typos don't count as misspelled words, do they?
A few weeks ago at home, I received yet another call from one of those "policeman charities". They thanked me for my past support (I have never given these guys a nickel). Just so happened, I was sitting in front of my PC, with Google at the ready. I Googled the name of the so-called charity (while making him think I was really interested in what he was telling me).
When he finally shut his yap for a second, I told him that I had just Googled his organization and the first website I clicked said that his organization received a "zero stars" rating. He asked what website said that, so I told him it was Charity Navigator. Then I said (still in a real friendly voice), "And the next website says that you guys run a scam!" "WHAT?" he asked. I totally "sympathized" with him..."Yeah...can you believe THAT? Why would they say such a thing about you???"
The previously polished salesman could only think of one thing to say and do. "OUTLANDISH!!!", he yelled. Then he hung up. Darn...I wasn't finished! There were hundreds of websites I wanted to read to him. I can't wait until they call me again!
Before you give your hard-earned money to anyone or anything, or fill out an application to get your name in some "prestigious" book, or possibly fall for a phishing ploy to get enough personal information to steal your identity and wreck your credit--please, do some research first. We have the luxury of being able to do that with just a few keystrokes and mouse clicks. Just make sure those mouse clicks aren't clicking on the links provided in those phishing email messages.
Got to run...Outlook just told me I had a new email message, and I think this Nigerian general is about to offer me the deal of a lifetime!
I know how those "Who's Who" deals work. You let them list your name among thousands of others, and pay a big price for the book just to see your name in print. All it takes is a Google search to find out about this outfit or anyone else. I've had countless "charities" call asking for money, and I tell them I'll check them out on the Internet first. They always say, "Our website is www.yaddayaddayadda.com".
C'mon...do you think any scam artist's website is going to come out and say he is a blatant crook and will take you for every nickel they can get? What I found out about this particular Who's Who place is that when you send in the whole 1/3-page application, you will receive a call and some slick salesperson will try to talk you into giving them $800-$1,000 for the lifetime membership. But hey, in the letter they said they selected me "based on my current standing as well as criteria from executive and professional rosters" (translation: they bought a mailing list that contained my name and address). Maybe a lifetime membership in such an organization might help me realize my aspiring executive and professional goals by networking me with thousands of other women who were scammed into giving these guys a thousand bucks for nothing.
Funny--even though I was on this executive/professional roster, the application asked me for the company I work for, the industry, and my personal specialty. Geez...personal specialty? That could be any number of things, and the line to list them is only about seven inches long. Maybe I could attach a few pages outlining my personal specialties. Let's see...I make good homemade bread, pizzas, and cheesecake. I can knit, sew, and crochet. My spelling ability is amazing--well, except for that occasional typo, but typos don't count as misspelled words, do they?
A few weeks ago at home, I received yet another call from one of those "policeman charities". They thanked me for my past support (I have never given these guys a nickel). Just so happened, I was sitting in front of my PC, with Google at the ready. I Googled the name of the so-called charity (while making him think I was really interested in what he was telling me).
When he finally shut his yap for a second, I told him that I had just Googled his organization and the first website I clicked said that his organization received a "zero stars" rating. He asked what website said that, so I told him it was Charity Navigator. Then I said (still in a real friendly voice), "And the next website says that you guys run a scam!" "WHAT?" he asked. I totally "sympathized" with him..."Yeah...can you believe THAT? Why would they say such a thing about you???"
The previously polished salesman could only think of one thing to say and do. "OUTLANDISH!!!", he yelled. Then he hung up. Darn...I wasn't finished! There were hundreds of websites I wanted to read to him. I can't wait until they call me again!
Before you give your hard-earned money to anyone or anything, or fill out an application to get your name in some "prestigious" book, or possibly fall for a phishing ploy to get enough personal information to steal your identity and wreck your credit--please, do some research first. We have the luxury of being able to do that with just a few keystrokes and mouse clicks. Just make sure those mouse clicks aren't clicking on the links provided in those phishing email messages.
Got to run...Outlook just told me I had a new email message, and I think this Nigerian general is about to offer me the deal of a lifetime!
No comments:
Post a Comment