Tag Archives: scammers

And Another Thing

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Sticky Toffee Cake

After finishing an article this afternoon I noted the time in my notebook (yes, I’m serious about getting organised) and then went to check my emails. There was one from the chair of a group I’m in, asking if I could let him know that I had received the email and asking if I could do him a favour. He couldn’t ring, he explained, as he had laryngitis and it was painful to speak.

It seemed a bit strange, as we had never corresponded before, but I checked the email, which seemed OK and sent him a reply.

I got a reply almost by return, thanking me for getting in touch and telling me what the favour was. Could I buy an Apple gift card for him. He wanted it as a birthday gift for a young cancer patient he knows but couldn’t do it himself by phone because of the painful laryngitis and couldn’t do it via Amazon because it didn’t seem to be working for him.

At that point I became annoyed with myself for answering the first email. The gift card, the heart-rending recipient, the pathetic excuses for why he couldn’t do it himself . . .

Botham’s Whitby

Someone was clearly trying to scam me. However, there is always the lurking doubt, isn’t there? I clearly couldn’t email as someone seemed to have hacked it. And I couldn’t ring, because if he did have laryngitis it would be uncomfortable for him.

So I rang the membership secretary. I was halfway through the explanation when he told me not to worry as I was the third person to call and I wasn’t about to upset a sick man by refusing to him buy a birthday present for a sick child.

I don’t like scammers. I don’t like the feeling that they are circling round me. And I don’t like the idea that one day, as my mental state declines, that I may actually fall for it and give someone my cash or my bank details. Or both.

I’m sure I had something important to say too.

Toasted Teacakes

I can smell banana cake cooking. Julia decided to pre-empt my baking efforts with her own. She’s also made crumble. OK, it’s of limited importance to most of my readers, but it’s quite important to me.

I’m sure there was something else but my brain tends to close down when it smells baking.

This is the second post of the day. This is the link to the first.

Eccles Cake

Day 57

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Spring is definitely starting to show now – lighter mornings, lighter evenings, a bit of brightness and a few more flowers. It’s difficult not to feel happier.

This was slightly moderated by three conversations in the shop today (really yesterday, as I’m writing in the early hours of Sunday morning). One was with a man who had just suffered a death in the family, one with a man whose parents have just been scammed out of their life savings and one with a man who has lived here for many years but still has friends and family in the Ukraine.

This sort of  conversation makes me realise how lucky I am.

I( am, I admit, having to do some thinking about death, mainly whether it makes sense to take out a pre-payment plan for a funeral or not. Clearly it’s cheaper to sort it out and have it all ready for when the time comes, but  what happens if they go out of business between now and the funeral?

I’ve also been thinking about keeping my money safe in years to come. I don’t want to hand it all over to a fraudster, and I don’t want to spend it all on high-priced TV offers, as many of our customers do.  I’m reasonably confident I can keep it safe now, but worry about what I may do in the future. I mainly rely on a bad memory and being disorganised at the moment, meaning I couldn’t hand money over to scammers even if I wanted to, but as I get older and have to get more organised, this may become a problem. Similarly, as an incurable collector I would hate to find myself reaching for the phone to buy over-priced coins.

The coin marketing companies are probably even less moral than the criminals. The criminals are at least honest about their dishonesty, but the coin marketing companies, whilst targeting the elderly, pretend to be coin dealers.

And finally, of course, I don’t have family in the Ukraine. It’s bad enough having to watch what is happening without having to worry about family.

I am not a political blogger, so will leave it there. I do, however, dabble in poetry and would like to draw this Kipling poem to your attention. It’s about dane-geld.  For those of you who don’t need the links I will quote the last verse.

“We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”

 

Snow and a Slow Start to the Day

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Julia went to work by bus this morning. I felt so guilty that I got up at 6.30 to make sure her breakfast was ready when she got down. It was only tea, cereal and toast, so hardly the most onerous of breakfast.

We are back on the Weetabix so it needs some time to soak. I don’t like Weetabix because it’s often crunchy due to lack of time in the mornings. However, Julia doesn’t like Bran Flakes, my weapon of choice in the war for fibre and regularity, so we alternate – each one of us gritting our teeth and eating cereal we don’t like to accommodate the other. I suppose that’s what marriage is all about at times. When we retire I think I will make porridge every morning. We both like that.  We could, I suppose, have two boxes open but I regard this as vain and wasteful. I was brought up to be modest and frugal.

She left me with a lecture about doing housework while she’s out. Housework? And ruin a perfectly good writing day?

I’ve had a go at the washing up and I have plans afoot for cooking tea – I think I’ll try a vegetarian version of last week’s casserole for tonight and make chickpea and sweet potato curry for tomorrow, In a minute I will do some shredding. I can do that without moving from my chair.

I’ve just realised that you are probably wondering why Julia had to travel by bus. WE had snow at the weekend, and in England that means we grind to a halt. We had snow on Saturday but it fell early enough for the daytime temperatures to melt it. We had snow yesterday, but it started inn the afternoon and froze overnight. That means that the street we live on is, based on previous experience (32 winters) is a touch slippery and the slope down to the main road holds all sorts of possibilities. I’m getting more cautious on the roads as I grow older, and as my car insurance premiums increase. If it doesn’t melt today, it’s likely that we will have a surface like a skating rink for the next week. I will review the situation tomorrow.

At the moment the sun is out, next door’s conifer has turned green and the roof of the house below us on the hill is starting to show black slates through the snow. I’m hopeful.

It’s not bad weather, it’s bad preparation. When you only have a couple of snowy days a year it’s hardly worth the effort and expense of preparing for snow.

Just before starting work I had a call on the landline – this is usually the sign of a scammer. It turned out to be  a really pleasant Indian gentleman in a call centre. Apparently, all this working from home is playing havoc with broad band availability and our router has been sending out messages. Could I switch my computer on so that he could check the situation?

Yes, I said, as soon as he gave me his identity code. Identity code? Yes, the one supplied by the service provider so I knew callers weren’t trying to scam me.. Ah, he said, he wasn’t actually from the service provider, he was acting on their behalf. Well, I said, it’s unfortunate that they hadn’t given him the code. If he rang them for it, I’d be happy to talk to him further as soon as he got back to me with it.

I actually feel better than I do after I have swearing at a scammer. It’s so much nicer to be polite, waste their time and then disappoint them.

Snowy Detail

Snow pictures are from last year.