I am proud of myself today
By cripfemme
@cripfemme (7698)
United States
January 16, 2009 1:38pm CST
I stood up to scammers. They called and said they were from a publishing company affiliated with Book Expo America (this book show I go to). They said they were giving away $1,000 dollar raffles to writers to be used for laptops, paper, ink, and so on. I said, "and I don't need to give you any money now?" They said, "No". But then the next girl I was talking to transferred me to another person who wanted my credit card number. At that point, I hung up and called Book Expo America. They said that no company affiliated with them was giving away raffle prizes.
I think it's kind of low to target writers who are, as a group, mostly poor anyway. You make them think they're getting something that they need for free and then you scam them. Worst yet, you use an actual company which writers know to make it sound legitimate. Again, what's the world coming to? I'm sorry for the writers they did scam, but they didn't scam this one today. End of rant.
1 person likes this
5 responses
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
16 Jan 09
I am glad you did not fall for that scam. It will save alot of headaches later.
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
16 Jan 09
Oh my gosh cripfemme! I'm sooo glad you didn't give in and I'm going to tell you something that I've tried a number of times to get through to my mothers skull but she's so hard headed. It is this, never ever ever believe a business that calls YOU! NEVER. Now if you called them, then you'd KNOW who you're talking to but you don't when they call you. So please, keep that in mind. Tell the person on the other end that you're not interested and hang up. Do not let them talk you on staying on the line because it could be a scam. It may not be but you don't know unless YOU call THEM. It's sad that we have to protect ourselves like this these days but we have to be a step ahead of them in order to stay on board or we'll all sink.
@sauldejesus (169)
• Philippines
16 Jan 09
That's good. In my country, it's quite common for people to receive texts saying that they won something. They would even give out some number that should be proof that it's part of a registered public promotion and that would probably be fake. I guess anything that would require you to pay first before getting what you won is fake.
@jessi0887 (2788)
• United States
16 Jan 09
I have had similar calls but not for book companies. I can't remember any of it. Its been a while. I just wish scammers would stop and try to earn a real living. By the way i have ran into two more scams in the last three days. Its increasing everywhere.
