Scam

So I was laying in bed this morning at 7:15. Minding my own business, trying to pretend that a 2 year old, 3 year old, and 5 year old were not in bed with me fighting about the space, the covers, the dog, and the TV.

The phone rings.

It is a man with a foreign accent calling to tell me that I had just won a drawing and that $10 million dollars and a 2009 Mercedes Benz were waiting in Memphis to be delivered to my home by 10 AM. I asked if he were crazy, that it was 7 AM and that I was on the "Do not call list". He tried to confirm my address and continued to explain to me that because I purchased my groceries on credit or debit that my name was randomly entered into a drawing from big name companies (like he said...do you know Arm*n*Hammer) and that I had won for January. I told him "this is a scam, I am calling the police" to which he said "I do not understand your confusion, please ask me any questions to clarify your winnings."

By this time, I had spent enough time on the phone to be curiously miffed. So I began playing his game (uh... I mean scam). I asked how to claim my prize so that my new Benz would be sitting in the drive by lunch. He gave me a number in Memphis (with an extenstion to call) to confirm my winnings. All I had to do was confim the ability to accept the winnings by agreeing to pay the ( I cannot remember what he called it but I'll say ) legal fees. I told him I did not have that ability, that I would have to have my husband do that (that is always my scapegoat for telemarketers and salesmen when I get cornered). He asked to contact Brent. I of course refused to give him his numbers. So instead he gave me his name and all his numbers in Florida (and one in Memphis) so we could call and confirm it all. I laughed and laughed as he told me congratulations on my winnings and I hung up the phone. Of course I called Brent. I did not know if he would answer, being that he was in the woods in a tree stand somewhere, but he did... and laughed. While I was on the phone with him, I looked up the phone numbers on G@@gle.com. I won't go into the details of what all I found, but really it is quite elaborate. The Memphis number is a real number that evidentally most anyone can use as a free in the area number. You must subscribe to it where you are given an extenstion number that will re-route the number anywhere in the world. Best I could tell, this was a Jamacian phone scam (from what I saw on the internet). How in the world did they get my info... should I call the Police?

Funny enough, I will admit. There is a little piece of niave little Ashley in me that is thinking... what if I really won something?