Attempted swindling?

2 days ago, the receptionist at my clinic received a call from somebody who was looking for me.  When I arrived at the clinic, she informed me about it and told me that the patient (well, at least she assumed that it was a patient) wanted me to call him back.  She also told me that she the caller shouted at her on the phone.  I was really surprised.  An irate patient?  I asked the name of the caller and it didn’t ring a bell.  None at all.  I asked if the patient had a previous record with the clinic.  None.  It was supposed to be a first consultation.

Photo: “Don’t leave me hangin’ on the telephone” by , c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved

Since it was a pretty light day and I had no patients waiting for me yet at that time, we decided to call.  This was our conversation (it’s not word for word but pretty close):

Colonel:  Is this Dra. ____?

Me:  Yes.  What can I do for you?

Colonel:  Good morning.  Dra, this is Colonel _____.  Dra, are you related to General ____?

Me:  No, I’m not.

Colonel:  But you’re Ilokano.

Me:  Well, my husband’s family is from the North…

Colonel:  So you’re probably related.   Anyway, Dra.  I would just like you to know that our group _____ has several projects lined up, medical-dental missions every other week, sending children to school.  So we have a upcoming dinner dance at ________.  I have taken the liberty of reserving 4 tickets for you.  Each ticket is priced at 5000 pesos.  Is that ok with you?

Me:  (shocked speechless)

Colonel:  You see, you would be doing a lot of good and helping a lot of people.

Me:  Ah, I’m sorry but I cannot even if I wanted to.  You know it’s almost school opening….

Colonel:  Yes, I know, Dra.  That’s why your contribution would already help 10 students who are poor but deserving.

Me:  Sorry, I really cannot afford it.  I need the money to pay for my kids’ needs.  I don’t have any extra right now.

Colonel:  Is that so, Dra.  Ok, then maybe you can just give a minimal contribution and buy just 1 ticket for 5000 pesos.

Me:  Sorry, talagang said na said na ako ngayon.  I don’t have any extra.  In fact, I had to make a small loan myself.  Bad timing.

Colonel:  Ah.  Ok, Dra.  Maybe next time then.

Me:  Yes, maybe next time.

Colonel:  OK, Dra.  Good bye then.

—–end of telephone conversation

It was only later on that I realized that hey, this may be a scam and I was lucky enough that I didn’t have enough money :) so I didn’t fall for it.

I realized the following things:

The person didn’t really know me.  Why would you solicit such a big amount from somebody you do not know?  He knew that my surname was the surname of a former general, so maybe he used that to state that he was from the military too.

My name is in some directories for doctors.  It’s pretty simple to just pick my name out of the list.  It’s also behind the receptionists’ desk at our clinic– which is a public place, people come and go and he may have just picked my name out from the list and made a script for me.

I do not know him.  While I generally will forget details about certain patients if I don’t look at charts, familiar names will ring some sort of bell.  His didn’t ring any bell and he doesn’t have any record in the clinic.

I also do not know why they had to shout at the receptionist who answered the phone when I was not in yet.  It was really bastos.  Maybe it was their way to ensure that I call back?

Scammers abound.  Maybe this is a new way to swindle us out of our hard earned money.  So be careful.

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This entry was posted by admin on Sunday, May 30th, 2010 at 10:53 am and is filed under The Working Mom . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Comments

  1. jencc says:

    yike, scary. someone did that to me too and i told him to call back kasi i needed to ask husband. never called back.

  2. helen says:

    i experienced the same thing only cheaper because its only 3.5K then. yeah, they are indeed scammers. good thing hindi tayo nagpauto,lol.Ü

  3. Ging says:

    my gosh, joey! i received the same call! i was going to post it in N@W nga to make sure that nobody falls for it. grabe no? ako nam nung sinabi ko na i’ll get back to him and i asked for the number, sabi lang “hindi ba kita maasahan, clarice?” when i replied in the negative, binaba na yung phone.

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