The Scammers are at it Again

Don't you just love scammers? If you're like me, you wouldn't mind if they took a nice, long hike to, say, Pluto or Mars, without the use of their phones. Usually, I simply hang up on them. But there are times when I'm in the mood to let my alter-ego (known as Her Royal Snarkiness) have a little play time.

Of course, there are degrees here: how soon do I hang up, how much snarkiness and trouble I unleash, etc. This afternoon was one of those degrees days: I could have simply hung up when the scammer called a little while ago, or gone into full-fledged scamming-them-back mode. However I wasn't quite up to that, but did want to work their last nerve, since they called to scam.

Note: For anyone wanting to know about my previous escapades with the scammers, check out "Scammers, or Didn't I have that tattoo that said "Gullible" removed?" (about computer scammers), "The Scammers Are At It Again - And I Wasn't Home... " (IRS scammers), and/or "For Anyone Needing a Smile - and a Lesson Dealing with Scammers " (again, with IRS scammers, and dealing with them).

So, this afternoon, the phone rang. The caller ID showed "Clearwater, FL." Instead of ignorning it, I answered, and immediately heard call-center noise in the background before the heavily accented voice said, "Hi" to my "hi."

"This is John at your local power company. I believe I am talking to the person who pays the power bill."

"Okay, who, exactly, are you looking for?" I asked, and, after a minute of checking his computer, he came up with a name. Granted, it's the name associated with the phone number and our power bill, with a glitch: my first name, and what would have been my married name, had I taken my husband's last name. (As friend husband liked to tell people who questioned my keeping my maiden name, "I let her keep her last name, and she let me keep mine." Used to stop questions about the last names in a heartbeat.)

"Okay, so what power company are you with?" I asked, and he answered...sort-of, adding one or two words to the name of the power company. "Okay, so why are you calling?"

"Well, we've noticed that you over-paid your bill for the past year, and we would love to send you back the money you over-paid."

"Okay," I said. "But I want to ask a couple of questions first. Why did the caller ID say 'Clearwater, Florida' instead of the power company?"

"Well, our power company lines were tied up, so we had to use other numbers." Uh, huh, sure.

"Well, how is the power company going to pay me back?"

Well, all he needed was my banking information so they could send me money...

"The power company already has that. Also, the power company can always give me a credit on my bill to go towards my future bills."

"Oh, no," 'John' told me. "That's not how we do things."

At that point, I was getting tired of his b.s., and told him, in my politest voice, "Ya know, I do smell a scam. So, go ahead and have a very f*#ked up day."

That's when I hung up.

It wasn't anywhere near as satisfying as when I dealt with the computer scammers, or the second time I dealt with the fake IRS agents, but that's okay. At least they didn't get a chance to take my money...