7th March, 2007
Phone Phish
Wednesday, 8:51 pm in Life
I got the weirdest phone call today.
It was from a woman who, in a thick New Delhi accent, introduced herself as ‘Anna’ from Blockbuster and proceeded to tell me I owed $26.85 to to the Fairy Meadow store for renting out The Crow: Wicked Prayer in January last year. After first feeling mild panic that someone had apparently sent out debt collectors against me, suspicion soon started to creep in when I mentioned that I no longer lived in Wollongong and she became very insistent that I should pay my fine right now using some website that I think was ‘e-retrievals.com.au’ (I usually try not to be an asshole about people’s accents, but this woman was seriously incomprehensible, not to mention extremely quiet and over a shitty VoIP line). I did manage to find the site, which looked shonky like you wouldn’t believe; not like somewhere I’d be putting in my credit card details, legitimate or not.
Anyway, as soon as she said that I started laughing at her. “Look, I’m sorry but do you realise that this sounds like a scam?” Where I work, incidentally, we get at least one new phishing scam cross our inbox every week. The latest one involved something to do with someone supposedly from Visa, reading a bunch of your own details out to you – including your credit card number – then asking you for the verification code from the back of your credit card. ‘Anna’ got really defensive when I began to question her legitimacy, reading me back ‘details’ like the amount owed and the video rented. I told her I was happy to pay my fines, but I would only do it to someone actually from the Fairy Meadow Blockbuster. She started snapping at me to ‘call the shop’ and confirm. I told her that’s exactly what I’d do, and she kept insisting that she’d call me again on Monday. I told her I’d rather she didn’t, but I guess possibly-fake debt collectors are pretty persistent.
Anyway, after I’d laughed ‘Anna’ off the phone, I rang the Fairy Meadow Blockbuster. “I’ve just had a very strange call,” I told the clerk who picked up the phone, “from someone claiming to be calling on behalf of your store, wanting me to repay a late fine over the internet.”
“Uh, okay, I don’t think we do that,” said the clerk, sounding about as confused as I was.
I got him to check whether I owed any fines. Apparently I did; $14.85, to be precise. “I guess she got the 85 right,” said the clerk slyly. I suppose its possible I heard the lady wrong, because it’s either that or even more suspicious. I told the clerk I’d be in Wollongong later this month, and I’d make sure to drop by with my $15. I don’t think he really cared, but it made me feel better. Besides, now when ‘Anna’ rings me back on Monday I can tell her I’ve sorted alternate arrangements with the store, thank you very much.
To be honest, I don’t know whether ‘Anna’ was legitimate or not. If she is, I guess it’s not really her fault that her company is sounds fucking dodgy as hell. Surely Blockbuster could find a more legitimate-sounding debt collection company? Hell, they could ring me themselves; they’ve obviously got my mobile number. Similarly, I’ve got no real interest in shirking off a $15 late DVD fine (well, technically it’s ~Mat [h]’s fine, since I’ve never seen The Crow: Wicked Prayer and have no burning desire to either). What I really don’t have an interest in, however, is providing sensitive financial details to dubious offshore companies.
Besides; phishing an IT geek? Please.
- Mood » dubious
- « Previous
- Next »