Time Traveler: Be aware of scams

Time Traveler: I consider myself to be a humorist of sorts. This column probably reflects that bent in my nature. But at the request of one of my readers, this week I'm going to step outside my comfort zone. I have been blessed by being given the opportunity to follow a lot of occupations. Either I was given these opportunities or I took them by force, I don't remember anymore. 40 or 50 years ago, I spent a dozen years entertaining myself as a door-to-door salesman. Good Lord, 50 years ago! How time flies. I don't think there are any more door-to-door salesmen left. If so, I haven't encountered any lately. But in those days, we were as thick as thieves. Speaking of thieves, many people considered us to be scammers, grifters, and con artists, but there was a difference between grifters and door-to-door salesmen. The drummers in those days felt he or she was delivering goods and services at a fair market price, which for the most part, they were. Grifters, on the other hand, were dedicated to removing as much surplus cash as possible from a gullible mark without delivering anything in return. It was a matter of pride for them. A lot of scams were penny anti small potato stuff. I saw an ad once that said, "Send your dollar today". Enough dummies sent their dollar to pay for the ad and a couple of bucks profit. The one I liked was the ad that said, "Must sell - autographed picture of Abraham Lincoln $100. A week later, those who thought they were getting something for very little received a Five dollar bill. Well, what the hell, it had a picture of old honest Abe and it was signed by the Secretary of the Treasury. What do you want, eggs in your beer? Most scams depend on personal greed to work well. Thank God we are much more sophisticated today than we were in those days. We would never fall for that nonsense…or would we? The fact is, the scammers are still here and they are much more skillful. The thing they hold in common with the salespeople of old is the ability to read people, and quickly. So why thiscolumn? Last summer, while I was away on vacation, a man got into my house, stole a credit card, some old receipts, and my Social Security number. With those things, he opened a credit account and jacked up my credit card, I didn't discover this until I returned. I successfully managed to pinch off most of the damage fairly quickly, but I knew my Social Security number was out theresomewhere. Several months ago, I received a call from a very professional sounding woman who informed me that a number of bank accounts had been opened in my name and an investigation was being conducted. Knowing my Social Security number was in the wind, I was not surprised. So far it seemed very plausible. She suggested I call my bank and explain the situation and gave me the number. Well son of a gun, my bank answered, (at least it sounded like my bank). Very well done. The bank officer recommended I apply for a new Social Security number since my number had been compromised and she transferred me to another "investigator". A man with an authoritative voice said I needed to go immediately to my bank and secure my accounts. What the hell does "secure my accounts" mean? Then he made a mistake. He told me not to tell anyone because of the investigation. What? Really? Now I'm on to the scam, so I decided to play out the string to see where it went. The man on the phone said this was so urgent that he would stay on the phone as I went into town. Well I needed to go get tobacco anyway, so why not. On the way in, he wanted me to honk my horn several times. Wasn't that odd? I actually pulled up to the bank and said I had a lot of cash and I would have to talk to the bank officer. "No!", exclaimed the voice on the phone. "Just go to the teller and get what you can. We will advise you further". My plan was to pretend to take out the money and tell him I was going home, but somehow he figured out I was playing him and broke off the call. I'll never know, but isn't it likely they had an operative in the area to help relieve me of the burden of carrying all that cash? Lucky for them they didn't. I can be extremely unpleasant from time to time. The lady who asked me to mention this story was approached by a professional young woman who asked her if she was concerned about identity theft. Of course she was, we all are. So she wrote the gal a check to buy identity protection. But it was a scam. Over the next few years, she lost $10,000, a little bit at a time. The banks only cover losses back 3 months, so she is only going to get a fraction of that money back. Sad. There was another lady I know who was snookered out of $80,000. Us older folks need to be acutely aware, because the scammers are still out there and now with technology and artificial intelligence, they are better and more dangerous than ever. You can hear my latest Podcast on YouTube at TimeTraveler1860. Don't forget to hit the Subscribe button. To comment on this column call 530-320-6441.