{"id":11273,"date":"2012-11-08T11:59:51","date_gmt":"2012-11-08T16:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=11273"},"modified":"2012-11-08T11:59:51","modified_gmt":"2012-11-08T16:59:51","slug":"have-you-gotten-a-scam-phone-call-i-did","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=11273","title":{"rendered":"Have you gotten a scam phone call? I did"},"content":{"rendered":"

So. Things have happened here in NYC, and then all over the country. I have spent a great deal of time “doing” the election. Much of that time has been checking in with Nate Silver<\/a> at least three times a day. Nate kept me sane, as he did in 2008.<\/p>\n

In that long meantime between whenever and now, one thing happened that I can report on: I got an egregiously scammy phone call. And thereupon, as is my wont, behaved like a good citizen. Not a great citizen, or a heroic citizen. Just a plain old down-home good one. Here’s what occurred:<\/p>\n

During election season, I gave a lot of bucks to particular candidates, always via the internet. And a lot of candidates followed up my frantic generosity with phone calls, many calls, every day. I don’t pick up calls that aren’t clearly ID’d as people I know but I got sort of used to ID-ing the calls by their area codes. “Oh, Amy’s calling!” I’d say to myself, and “Here’s Heidi’s camp\u00a0\u2014 hi, Heidi!”<\/p>\n

The political callers didn’t leave messages.<\/p>\n

So I wasn’t surprised to get a call from a 876 code, but I was<\/em> surprised to hear this message: “Hello, Miss Naomi, this is Mr. Donald Miller from the American Shopping Network. Please give us a call at 216-759-4590 to receive your second place check for five million dollars. Thank you, congrats, and goodbye.”<\/p>\n

No. I didn’t call and have not received a five million dollar check. What I did do was enter the website of our intrepid Attorney General Eric Schneiderman<\/a>, find the form for Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau<\/a>, print it out, fill it in, and send it to the bureau on the same day I got that call.<\/p>\n

Sure, I could have done nothing. But it seemed that since our government provided me with something to do, I should do it. And a few days later I got a confirming letter from the Bureau of Consumer Frauds and Protection \u2014 who said they were forwarding my letter to the Federal Trade Commission<\/a>. Apparently, it’s the federal government that deals with these things.<\/p>\n

If you get such a call, here’s where you should report it:<\/p>\n

Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Response Center, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve done my citizen’s duty and feel good about it. And of course I voted on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

P.S. Gee, I hope none of you called Mr. Donald Miller back and maybe gave him some money to seal the deal, I hope. On the other hand, if you did and have received a five million dollar second place check, do please let me know.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So. Things have happened here in NYC, and then all over the country. I have spent a great deal of time “doing” the election. Much of that time has been checking in with Nate Silver at least three times a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t