As it was, I almost fell prey to a bunch of amateurs running a SCAM!
Let me back up a little before relating my almost sad story.
Some of you might not be aware that Jane and I founded an educational not-for-profit called Kids Can Make A Difference. As a result of that a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of conducting a class of middle school students located in Dubai.
No I did not take a trip to that country (as appealing as it might sound), but rather in this age of technology the class was conducted using Skype. It was a thrilling event and generated much comment. I received the following communication from a student and thought that it is a wonderful introduction to my tale of woe.
(I have emphasized the pertinent section in bold print).
Hi Mr Larry Levine
My name is [redacted] and I am from [redacted] school which is located in Dubai, UAE. thankyou for reading my poem and replying on it. Weeks ago in our school we had an iearn online session (in which i was not there) however my friends who participated from our class 8B told me that they had the session in which there was the founder of this KIDS can make a difference named Larry Levine.
Well at that time I didn't know who this person was but when i researched about you sir I found that you taught the KIDS program in many schools in New England and Metropolitan New York City and you also have edited the KIDS newsletter, which is sent to more than 10,000 subscribers!!
But what truly inspired me was that when our Principle Mrs [redacted] visited our class and discussed about you and then she told that you wake up at 5:00 am in the morning and it's your daily schedule despite of you being in such an old age!!!
You have done a truly great job as well as your wife and god bless you both and we are thankful that you contributed so much.
Thank you,
[redacted]
It's that "being of being in such an old age" stuff that really got me. I guess I have moved from being very mature to over ripe sooner than I thought. I should mention, that I normally start my day at 3:30-4:00 AM.
In any case, this blog deals with what can happen when you are over ripe.
One night last week, my phone rang late (for me at least, at 6:30pm), and a voice with an decidedly Indian or Pakistan accent greeted me by name. Being around on this earth as long as I have been and been trapped on the phone speaking to various computer call centers about my computer problems, warning bells should have gone off in my head. I would have hung up the phone.
For some reasons known only to the Supreme Being, I responded in a civil tone and asked the purpose of this call. In retrospect, I can't believe I reached this stage of life being as stupid as I was. Before I knew it, like Alice, I was falling down the rabbit hole.
This disembodied voice, stated he was calling as I was part of the Microsoft Notification System to alert me that my computer was in danger of closing down. Another way of saying death was imminent. This was based on the large numbers of error messages they were receiving from my computer.
He asked me to go to my computer and turn it on and he would review the problems with me. I should have smelled a rat, as here he was setting up the situation and he was completely in control of the results. In other words, I should expect bad news.
Not surprisingly, he took me to some deep dark place on my hard drive where only the techies dared to roam. This place was titled "events" and it showed almost 6,000 error messages.
Once he had taken this over ripe person to "events", I was now in his control and the sales pitch followed. Using his connection with Microsoft liberally (without ever saying that he was Microsoft), he told me what had to be done to get control of my computer and prevent me from seeing that dreaded blue screen.
In computer parlance, blue screen=death!
I agreed to the charge if they would solve two major problems I was aware of. I emphasized that this was a test. They agreed and tried to get me to sign up using AMEX. I told them it would have to be VISA. For some reason, despite many attempts they could not process the order.
Make a long story short, they agreed to go to work on the two areas I wanted fixed. Over the next two days totaling seven hours, I pulled the plug as they were stumbling around in the dark. Even to a dum-dum like me, it was apparent that they were totally inept.
I finally Googled the company and found that they were an Internet company located in France, but the telephone number I was given to reach the people I was dealing with was in Brooklyn, NY. The accents were neither native to France or Brooklyn.
I had always shaken my head in disbelief when I heard about "old" people falling for SCAMS. I always laughed in disbelief at the absurdity of the them for not realizing that they were in danger of being taken to the proverbial cleaners.
I still can't believe that I had become one of them.
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