Be Careful — Don't Get Scammed
Dianne L. Walbrecker
Here are the brief details about my terrible experience. I already reported this to Target, to the Frederick County Police, to my bank, to Xfinity, and to the FTC, but thought the community might want to know as well, to encourage others to be careful.
It can happen to all of us. I had seen the warnings about people getting scammed, but I never thought it could happen to me. On a Wednesday morning in late October, I called Xfinity to complain about my bill. They didn’t answer, so I hung up after a good 15 minutes of waiting. So, I wasn’t surprised to get a call from Xfinity about an hour later. The man on the phone said he wanted to offer me a promotional deal. “Since you have been a good customer since 2001, we have a deal for you,” he started off. He introduced himself as Sean and continued, “Since you are paying more than $200 a month for your internet, television, and mobile phone, we want to see your payments reduced.”
Who wouldn’t like that, I thought?
He pulled me in, bit by bit. Since he knew so much about my account, I really thought he was with Xfinity.
Sean said, “We can lower your payment to $175 a month for all three, and give you two free months if you just pay us upfront for 10 months.” I hesitated, and said that sounds like too good a deal to be true. He continued, “And we have a special deal with Target. If you pay us using Target gift cards, we will also throw in an iPhone 15.”
I had to pick up a friend who needed a ride to a doctor’s office, so I agreed, and listened impatiently as he told me what to do next. Hurriedly, I took down the notes and told him I would do it. Before I hung up, Sean said the deal would be off unless I called a certain number by 8:00 p.m. to give them the gift card numbers.
Annoyed by now, I wrote down the number and then took my friend to the doctors. On my way back home, I thought, “Wow, I could really use the savings, and it would be cool to have an iPhone 15.”
So, I went to CVS and bought the Target gift cards for $1,750. The cashier at CVS asked me if I knew why I was buying the cards. Sean had warned me that she would do so. I gave her the answer he had told me to: They were for my personal use. I brought them home and told my husband what I had done and that I was going to call the number and report the gift card numbers. He’s aware that I tend to be gullible, and he said, “Think about it, Dianne.”
Wow! I had almost lost a lot of money. I did call the number before 8:00 p.m. that night. A very pleasant-sounding man named Bob picked up the phone and asked me to report the numbers. I asked him, “How many people have you scammed today? You ought to be ashamed of yourself.” He replied, with his voice really nasty now, “Lady, I’m not ashamed at all. I make more money in one day than you will ever make in your entire lifetime.” And then he laughed before I slammed the phone down.
After two weeks of reporting the scam and sending paperwork to Target, the company sent me a check for the entire amount I had spent on the gift cards. I sure hope my story can keep others from falling victim. These operators are very smooth, and they know much more about you then you would imagine.
