DEAR ABBY: Can you stand one more story about a phony money-making scheme?
My mother, a widow who lives on her Social Security, received a telephone call advising her that she had won three prizes -- an automobile, $10,000 in diamonds, and her choice of a vacation in Hawaii, California or Florida! Well, Mama thought she had died and gone to heaven!
The man on the phone told her that all she had to do was let them send her their "products" to try; the products were free, but she had to pay for shipping, handling and insurance, which was "only $699.99."
Then the caller asked Mother if she had either MasterCard or Visa. She said she had MasterCard. So she was asked to give him her card number. She became suspicious and hung up! The man called her back saying, "We must have been disconnected." Then Mother said, "I'm sorry, I was advised never to give my credit card number to anyone on the telephone." She then hung up and immediately called the Better Business Bureau to report this company. She was thanked, and then told that they already had the name of this company on file!
Abby, please run this in your column. There are still plenty of people who might fall for this kind of scam. -- NO FOOL IN PHOENIX
DEAR NO FOOL: You would be amazed to learn how many people continue to fall for this kind of scam. I have warned my readers never to give their credit card numbers on the telephone. Thanks for the reminder.