MAR 8, 16 .. ALWAYS BE ON GUARD FOR THE UNGUARDED MOMENT!
When you leave the country for a number of months, there can be surprises when you get home. Your mail is a real Pandora’s Box of mysteries.
“Why I had no idea about that.” .. you say to yourself as you began to open up four-and-a-half months of mail waiting for you. You all get-the-picture!
Late last Sunday evening Patti’s home phone rang.
Below Patti writes her narrative of ‘A Day In Her Life’ .. She sent it to me via an e-mail.
“Is this Patricia M. Boone?”
“Yes, who is calling?”
“Good evening Ma’am, I am Lt. Jonathan Williams of the Alaska State Troopers. My badge number is ___ and I am calling to inform you that there is an active bench warrant for your arrest. You were notified by mail to report for jury duty last Thursday and you failed to appear.”
“But, I just returned a week ago from being out of the country for the last 4 1/2 months. Nevertheless, I have had a chance to go through my stack of backed-up mail and there was not a Jury Summons in my mail.”
“I understand Ma’am. This happens sometimes. I can assist you. If you will go to Wal-Mart and purchase three PayPal My Cash cards covering the two charges against you and the court costs, in the amounts of $97, $97, and $100 respectively, I can suspend the bench warrant until your court appearance on March 17th at 10:30 a.m. before Judge Handler. The PayPal My Cash cards are the only form of payment the court accepts.”
“But it is Sunday evening … I am not dressed … I have difficulty walking … it is dark …”
“I understand Ma’am, but I cannot suspend the bench warrant until you do as I am advising you to do. Please give me your cell phone number so I can stay in touch with you.
Patti gave him her cell number.
A VERY upset Patti called me and we visited.
Patti went out to Wal-Mart and was advised that they no longer sell PayPal My Cash cards. Lt. Williams was calling every 15 minutes to ascertain Patti’s progress. Patti went to Walgreen’s and purchased the three cards.
Back in the car at Walgreen’s, Patti’s cell phone rang once again with Lt. Williams asking if the cards had been purchased. He got an affirmative answer.
“Very good Ma’am. Please scratch off the covering over each card pin number and give them to me so I can suspend your bench warrant.”
“But, I am in my car, it is dark, I do not have a flashlight, the overhead light does not work, I cannot see the numbers.”
“Ma’am you must do as I am asking you to do. If you don’t I will leave the bench warrant active and you could be arrested right now on your way home. You would be taken to jail and would have to stay there without bail until your court date.”
“I will call you back at the Troopers Office when I get home.” Patti hung up.
Patti did not answer the next three incoming cell phone calls.
When Patti returned home she called the State Troopers. She was advised that there is a SCAM underway specifically involving PayPal Cash Cards and that if she was called again to have a shrill whistle and to blow hard into it and hang up.
Bad VERY BAD business. Just think .. What if Patti had slipped and fallen and seriously hurt herself.
Let this be a lesson for all of us. The bad people of the world never cease to pursue their illicit activities.
Always be on guard for the unguarded moment!
These criminals catch us off-guard and vulnerable. When you look at it in hindsight it is totally ridiculous! Courts and police are not going to be calling you late on a Sunday evening. The last time I checked .. the mere missing of a Jury Summons WILL NOT imprison you with no possibility of bail! Telling Patti to go to Wal-Mart to purchase a PayPal Cash Card because that is the only payment the court will accept! Can you imagine .. Can you believe that? Wal-Mart and PayPal Cash Cards for the court system! This borders on the obscene. How could anyone fall for this!
It is because the criminals catch you off guard and they specifically try to pressure you. They don’t want you to have time to think. So whatever they are telling you to do they stress it has to be done immediately. They keep emphasizing it over and over again and if you don’t do what they want the consequences are going to hit you immediately.
Late on that same Sunday evening we may be tired and fatigued from the weekend. These criminals could have drastically changed Patti’s life had she slipped and fallen and seriously injured herself. The pickpockets and luggage thieves who steal from us may steal critical medicines we may carry. In losing my camera I lost hundreds of photos I can never replace. They care less in their maniacal ravenous quest for money to feed and to fuel various addictions that may not include drugs and alcohol.
Now think of this ‘angle’. The criminals knew from their cell phone contact with Patti that she was out-and-about getting the PayPal Cash Cards. They could have gone into her Condo and ransacked it stealing everything of value while all-the-time ‘tracking’ Patti’s whereabouts with the cell phone calls to her.
Here is one thing to DO!
I don’t think that you can ‘outwit or out think’ these criminals once they have made contact with you on the phone. They are extremely talented and intelligent and quick to think-on-their-feet. The answer is this : Don’t allow them to make contact with you.
Screen 100% of your incoming phone calls. If you don’t know or recognize the incoming phone number (.. such as the INFAMOUS ‘UNKNOWN CALLER’ ) do NOT ever ‘pick up’ your phone. The call will then go into you message recording device. A legitimate caller will leave a message identifying themselves.
Below are but a few of the thousands of links about PayPal Cash Card and so very many OTHER SCAMS.
http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2015/10/21/beware-buying-paypal-my-cash-cards/
https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/About-Products/My-Cash-Card-500-Gone/td-p/987868
Below are three links about ‘Scams In General’ sponsored by the government and the Better Business Bureau. In this lifetime you could not possibly read all that is available on-line about scams and frauds and ‘The Bad Guys’ out-to-get all of us!
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/scam-alerts
https://www.usa.gov/scams-and-frauds
The below Better Business Bureau link : Don’t send money to people you haven’t met in person!
https://www.bbb.org/council/bbb-scam-stopper/
What more can we say. IF this post assists one person writing and publishing it will have been worthwhile. Because of the stress it caused both of us it has been a catharsis for the two of us. We can count ourselves among those who have been helped already!
Patti and I are going to sign off with .. To quote Bugs Bunny!
“That’s all folks!”
- MAR 7, 16 .. MONGOLIAN IMMIGRATION AND THE COLD WEATHER ..
- MAR 9, 16 .. MISTER COMPUTER SIR! WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS ABOUT
10 thoughts on “MAR 8, 16 .. ALWAYS BE ON GUARD FOR THE UNGUARDED MOMENT!”
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WHEW … kinda bizarre to see this in print … HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID??? Two days later, I am still somewhat numb, but at least not shaking and as totally unnerved as I was Sunday night. I AM screening ALL my calls again now! Hugs. Patti
YOU .. YOU named the post Patti!
ALWAYS BE ON GUARD FOR THE UNGUARDED MOMENT!
YOU had an unguarded moment. Ker POWIE! “Gotcha!” /s/ criminal mind ..
I should have hauled you back out of the raging waters you were going into. I too was caught off guard.
And YOU .. YOU backed off .. YOU re-grouped .. YOU did NOT allow any further contact by cell phone .. YOU lost but a few dollars .. The cost of the purchase of the PayPal Cash Cards. YOU called the real Troopers ..
ATTA GIRL PATTI .. Bottom of the 9th Inning .. 2-outs .. The winning run standing on third base .. The ‘count’ is 3 and 2 .. In comes the pitch .. high hard and a fast vicious slider bearing in on you .. KERPOWIE! Falling back YOU hard hit grounder cleanly between short-stop and third base .. GAME WON by YOU in the final analysis!
Much Love .. Cap
You must still be in zombieland from your travels, Patti. I find it hard to believe you fell for it, especially with your experience as a paralegal. I.E., IRS is federal; troopers are state. IRS would send letters, not state bench warrants. IRS would send US Marshals. Actually, no they wouldn’t. They would send letters. Now, I could believe it if the caller had been my good friend, the Prince of Kenya, who wanted me to help him move his vast inheritance into my bank account….
Better go spend those cards right away, or you will have lost those.
So too do I Gullible find it hard to believe that Patti of-all-people fell for it hook-line-and-sinker.
BUT .. Patti called me before she went out. Patti told me what was going on in some detail .. Missed a Jury summons .. Bench warrant out for her arrest .. NO bail while in jail .. Going to Wal-Mart for PayPal Cash Cards.
I had a bad feeling about it BUT .. I DID NOT say to Patti ..
“Wait .. Hold On Here .. Think About This .. Get A Grip .. Listen to what you are telling me!”
In-a-way I too fell for it.
These criminals are very skilled at their craft. They caught Patti totally off-guard .. Patti caught me totally off-guard. The rest is history.
Wow, I am sorry you had to go through that Patti!
Its easy to get tripped up when the stress button gets pressed.
And its easier to see through things when they are happening to others.
So it doesn’t surprise me that they caught you off balance.
It seems that all turned out for the best, given the circumstances.
Someone tapped you on the shoulder when you finally decided not to answer the calls and got you thinking straight again.
I’m glad your alright
Andrej
Wait a minute. She didn’t give the Pay Pal numbers to the scammers, so how has she lost that money? The jury duty/bench warrant added to the drama and if that figured into her response when the scammer called, that I can understand. She was worried about the jury duty thing and conflated that into the IRS coming after her.
As I note in comment Nr. 2 above (YOU lost but a few dollars .. The cost of the purchase of the PayPal Cash Cards) she lost nothing per se. But you do have to pay a fee to purchase each of the three PayPal Cash Cards. So Patti is-out about ten dollars give or take. I used the IRS comment as a ‘for instance’ had she gotten something from them it would have concerned her. She DID NOT actually hear from the IRS. I will correct that in the post. So NO the scammers did not get one-thin-dime. Smiles.
No, I understood correctly. She missed a call for jury duty and a follow up letter about a bench warrant should she not check in, right. I understand she didn’t hear from the IRS. They don’t operate that way. She would have received a letter, not a call.
No I didn’t understand correctly. I read into it the common scam call from the IRS that wants money in various forms. Went back and read it again. Ooops.
Did she really miss a jury duty letter?
Nope. I was right the first time. You came back and edited it. I knew you had IRS in there somewhere. As Lucy said to Charlie Brown, “I never make a mistake. I thought I did once, but I was wrong.”