This website, and many others that you visit, contain a certain amount of personal information, such as our names, dates of events, etc. The bad guys out there use that to call you and try to fool you into giving up your personal information. For example, some jerk might call and say that he’s a member (using one of our names) that is collecting donations for one of our events. They can be terribly convincing. Don’t buy it. That’s not how good businesses do business. Hanging up is the best policy. If you’re not comfortable doing that, hang up quietly. Better yet, don’t pick up the line in the first place. Also, look into a wonderful service called Nomorobo. I know that it is free with Spectrum land lines. We use it and hardly any calls get through. It rings once then it goes to… well, who cares! There are also paid alternatives for cell lines. Check with your carrier.
This kind of thing is nothing new. I was working at a gas station when I was in high school in the 70’s. During the gas crisis (remember that!) there were mile long lines of cars trying to fill up when they saw a gas station that was open. On one of those days, I was pumping gas one car after another, and soon people started handing me tickets saying that they prepaid for gas with some guy down the street. Those weren’t happy encounters. What a day. At least the gas was only 35 cents a gallon. The gas station owner, Don Burlas, used to let our families come down late at night to fill up! He was one top notch guy.
Update: If you want an idea how scary it is out there, check out the blog from this Security Awareness company.
