🚀 go-pugleaf

On Wednesday night, while I was out at a meeting, an Australian woman
claiming to be from an American corporation made two junk phone calls to my
wife Nadia. English not being her first language, Nadia had no idea what the
phone calls were about, and hung up, both times.

On Thursday morning the phone rang again.  This time I was at home, so I
answered it.  It was someone else claiming to be from an American
corporation and also claiming that he was phoning about a matter which
someone else from the company had "discussed with my wife yesterday
evening."  Since Nadia had not understood what Wednesday's junk caller was
on about, this struck me as a meaning of the word "discussed" with which I
had, hitherto, been unfamiliar.  He was phoning to offer us (in reality, he
was ringing after 9 a.m. in the expectation that Nadia would be alone in the
house) a business opportunity to work from home and earn 3,000 to 6,000
pounds etc. etc., and at that point, knowing an intended fraud when I hear
one, I hung up.  I dialled 1471 and found, surprise surprise, that the
origin of the call had been anonymized - why is this legal, for God's sake?

Disgraceful, isn't it, that sharks and shysters out there prey on the
vulnerable like this.

Incidentally, does anyone know exactly how the fraud works, or what the
purported "business opportunity" actually is?  Some years ago there was one
in which the fraudster induced the victim to pay about gbp 100 for a kit of
parts for making childrens' toys, promising that he (the fraudster) would
buy the toys after assembly, leaving the victim with a generous profit.
After assembling the toys, the victim posted them to the fraudster, who
returned them saying that the workmanship was not good enough and offering
the victim a chance to buy another kit of parts and assemble them to the
standard required.  At least one victim appeared on British TV after buying
three kits of parts and having all her work refused by the "American
corporation."  Is this the same fraud?

Ken Johnson
prayer://"May the Gods forgive my crossposting"