Tuesdays with Lou

SCAM ALERT!

I missed a call on my cell phone Friday around noon. A lady left the following message, “Hello, good morning. I’m trying to reach Louis. My name is Cassandra Flinstone. I’m calling from Winners International regarding a package we have here for you at the office. As soon as you get this message please call us at 1-876-425-XXXX for further information.” I called back about an hour later. I was informed I had won a 2nd place prize of $250,000!

Sensing even before I returned the call this was a scam I thought I might as well have fun with it. So I asked the women how I won. She informed me that by making purchases on the internet and having magazine subscriptions that qualified me for this contest. She then asked if I was familiar with UPS. I of course told her yes. She explained UPS would deliver me a check but it may take some time since it was the 2nd place prize. She told me I would need to send a money order for $350 to cover the insurance for the check. I told her she could send me a bill for the insurance. I didn’t have time to keep playing games so I told her I had go.

About 2 hours later she called back. No message this time but still the persistence is unbelievable. I’m not naive enough to think scams don’t happen and I’ve even received some through the mail but to call a personal cell phone is a huge invasion of privacy. Later that night I decided to call Cassandra back. She answered the phone, “Hello” (odd she didn’t say the company name). I told her my name was Bill and I was calling from Winners International and she had won a 2nd place prize of $250,000. She was confused. I told her I just needed her to wire me $350 to cover the insurance. She wanted to know how I got her information. I told her I know what she does and that she should apologize for trying to scam me and anyone else she has victimized. She denied this. I told her I had all our conversations recorded and knew how to report this. She hung up immediately. We exchanged phones calls about 3 more times of bantering each other.

It’s sad and scary that these scams exist and it’s even worse they call you. In a bad economy I wouldn’t be surprised that people would fall for this. If you know someone who has gotten a call or if you get one please be on alert it is most likely a scam. My Dad has always said it best, “Nothing is free.” And “If it’s too good to be true it’s not.”

Cavs

Season’s over. We finish with the best record in the NBA and start the playoffs with 2 first round sweeps and go 8-0 winning all 8 by double digits. The Magic are a terrible matchup for us but not necessarily a better team. That’s what makes this loss so much worse. Not only does this “Cleveland Curse” without a championship continue but the city misses out on revenue from game night for 5 playoffs games that never got played at home. The lost revenue is likely in the millions which is very unfortunate for the city. I’d like to see us pick up another big name player in the off season. I’m thinking Shaq could come in and give us about 20 minutes and split time with Z. Teams like the Cavs who are on the brink of a Championship usually are able to attract solid veterans. I’ll also go on record and say Lebron will not leave Cleveland when his contract is up. He will retire a Cavalier.