Thursday, December 27, 2007

I was scammed by a deaf person

Yes you read that right, I was scammed by a deaf person.... on the phone nonetheless. Well I should say almost scammed. How is that possible you may ask? Let me elaborate.

When deaf people call somewhere they use what is called a relay system. Basically they type what they want to say to an intermediary and they repeat it back to you. System works in the reverse way of course. Its not terribly common, but common enough that everyone knows how to handle them.

This was going to be a new customer inquiring about test strips. He wanted to know what the cost would be and what he would have to do to purchase them. He then stated perhaps it would be easier to send a fax of exactly what he was looking for. I said peachy and that was that. An hour later a fax showed up saying he was looking for some Accu-Chek Advantage strips and a new meter.

He then called back and asked if I had received it and I stated I did and gave him the prices. Then he said he'd fax over all of his information and his credit card number (which I assumed was reasonable since there was a 3rd party involved) and that was that.

Few minutes later, the fax appeared. With an order for 30 cases of each of the aforementioned items. 30 cases. I looked at the bottom and it gave a credit card number.... with a note saying that if it is declined to set up a charge account and send him the bill.

Obviously this was a scam. I was duped by a fucking deaf person. A goddamn deaf person. What a kick in the nuts that is. Needless to say everyone was laughing at me. I tried to make things better by saying he's probably not deaf, but that didn't help the matter.

So I sit here, proclaiming to the world, yes I was almost scammed by a deaf person. Whoopdy do.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This "IP relay" scams are prevalent in various industries. We have had no less than 10 phone calls that we know have been scams. Thankfully, we haven't actually been duped, but they're definitely targeting numerous industries.

Pathetic that these scammers use a service that some people actually count on and need, huh?