Scammers Beware

 After we sell this and move on to retirement, what will I do for entertainment? The dogs and cat will be there, and HeWho will still be my primary source, of course. I am sure the phone will ring occasionally ...

The phone rang yesterday morning. A man informed me that he was giving a courtesy call from my electric provider. He tells me he has a disconnect for one of my meters that is delinquent. I have 8 meters and all 8 bills have been paid and I can prove it. He insists that he is only doing his job and that I should call the electric provider and take care of my delinquent bill to avoid any problems.

I was already annoyed, as I was unable to locate my new favorite accessory, my whistle, and I had to watch silently as a truck entered the exit drive and was speeding into my park. It was raining rather loudly and my yell didn't travel as well as I wanted and then the phone rang with this idiot. I told him to come on out if would would relish being beat up by an old woman and her friends and hung up.

I relayed this to HeWho arrived with a nice iced coffee for me and he went to the last call and dialed up the man who shall now be referred to as the idiot. The electric company is closed on the weekend and it is highly unlikely they would pull a meter on a Saturday when it can't be verified by an office.

He gave a number to HeWho was irate, having paid the almost $4000.00 bill last week. I opined that I thought it to be a scam. I heard the prompt when the number he called answered and it did sound just like our provider, stating the office was closed for anything other than emergencies. He hit number for customer service and it was answered right away.

HeWho retired to his old man chair for this serious business and I had to wait on customers and could not ear it all. When he came out, he said that they had applied one of the payments to another meter, in addition to the correct payment. This has happened before, so it would sound genuine, except for the drastic action of pulling the meter. He was told he would have to go to the Dollar Tree and get a card to make a 400 and some odd dollar payment immediately to prevent the meter from being disconnected. The minute I heard Dollar Tree card I yelled scam.

But HeWho must not have good blood flow to the brain, was thinking that the power to our "guests" would be cut off and all the complaints and refunds that would follow. I argued and he said that it was the electric provider's prompt that answered his call and I supposed that would be easy to duplicate and that for all we knew, it could be an "inside" job of some employee making extra cash.

Still, he got into his truck and headed to town and the Dollar General. Not to worry, my talent for nagging has gotten us out of more than one jam. I can be persistent, or so I have been told. He finally took a breathe and checked the bank account that showed clearly that all the meters had been credited with the proper amount. Case closed, well, maybe ...

The Fed X driver was delivering a package, when HeWho loves errands (real or not) arrived home. I have been known to chat with all the delivery drivers and we were talking about the scam that almost happened. HeWho entered the store as his phone rang. We each have a cell phone and another for the business. Calls pertaining to business most always come through the business line. But, his personal phone rang with the scammer on the other end asking if he had obtained the card from the Dollar General. He told the caller he was on to him and that he planned on reporting his scam attempt. Fed X promptly took the phone and identified himself as a deputy and informed the caller that law enforcement was on the way, because they were tracing the number and that scammer might consider packing it in and removing himself from his base of operation.

Most fun I had all week!!