Thursday Open Line

I received a call today (On Wednesday) via a relay service usually used reserved for people that are deaf or can not talk to call someone that would otherwise not have the ability to communicate with them.  The operator receives the messages from the disabled person via a computer and speaks the message to you on the phone.  Then you simply tell the operator your response and they type it back to the other person through their machine.  You can carry on a conversation this way.  North Carolina provides this service for free to qualified people, you can read about it at their website relaync.com.

The operator becomes in the background, and you simply talk as if you were talking to the person on the other end.  It’s like the operator is translating for you. I have a few customers that use this that are hard of hearing so I’m used to the service.

However, scammers also use this because they can hide their voice, and also their originating phone number.  The caller id shows the number of the operator service, not the actual person you’re really communicating with.  I’ve had several attempts to scam my business this way over the years, and today was yet another one.

The phone call came in from an out of state number, so I knew something was odd then.  I answered and the person said Hello, this is i711.com service calling you, I am operator id (whatever it was).  At this point I didn’t think anything of it quite yet, maybe it was one of my customers calling.  But I quickly realized the intent.  The operator had an out of state phone number, and none of my customers use an out of state service.  The operator had a foreign accent, so this was likely being originating from overseas.  The person very quickly and bluntly asked if we carried a particular notebook model, how soon could they get it and what was the price.

That was when I knew it was a scam.  So I did what I usually do if I have a few minutes, I played along.  I said Sure, I have only one left in stock, it’s a hot item.  They asked how much.  I said $3,049 dollars.  They asked to confirm the price, and i told them again, that the item was in high demand so the price had increased.  They said they wanted it asap, and would send FedEx by to pick it up.  No problem, I said.  Then they said they wanted to actually buy 4 of them, and what would be the total price.  I told them the total would be $$12,196 and we could have the other 3 notebooks next day.  They were very happy, and volunteered their credit card number and asked that I run it while they waited.  Sure, so I put the operator on hold and waited a few minutes.  I took off the hold and said everything looked good, and it woudl be ready in about 3 hours to pickup.  They were very happy, and asked for the pickup information.  I made up some address in Missouri and the caller hung up.  I told the operator at the end that they were being involved in a scam and I just strung them along for the fun of it. He sounded very confused, so I just hung up.  I do not think the operator was a part of the scam.

I then called Discover, the type of credit card it was, and reported the card as stolen.  They cancelled the card immediately and took the information I had to give them. I imagine the scammer called FedEx to arrange for pickup, and FedEx told them the address was invalid.  I received about 20 phone calls this afternoon to my office from the operator service, they were trying to call me back but I did not answer the phone.  If they call me back again I’ll just tell them I don’t know what they’re talking about, we are not in Missouri, we are in NC etc.

Please be aware of scams such as this in your own business.  It takes a little experience, but you can easily pick up the odd details that may tip you off.   Even here in Henderson, NC such scams are attempted all the time.  Perhaps one day I’ll share with you guys another epic scam attempt I was involved in, and even got the FBI in on the investigation.

Here’s your open lines for Thursday, enjoy!