Phishing

Hello friends. So I'm sitting around in my tan easy chair last night after work and enjoying some television when the phone rings. It's sitting on the coffee table about halfway between Hofmann and I, and I grab it and look at the caller ID.

'Prison,' I said. 'You know anyone in prison?' We started laughing. The caller ID only said 'Prison', and nothing more.

'Pick it up,' Hofmann says. 'It might be important.'

I pick it up, and the line goes blank and starts making the grating your phone is off the hook noise. Huh, I thought, that's weird, and focused my attention back to the boob tube. The phone rings again and this time the call is blocked. I pick it up. 'Hello?'

A stern male voice on the other end starts: 'Sir, this is very important. There has been a young woman in a very terrible car crash and this number was listed as a contact. I need you to call *72 XXX XXX XXXX and ask for Sgt. Thompson and he'll give you a description of the car and the young woman. Do you understand me sir?'

By this point I'm nervous as hell, feeling that awful dread start moving through my body. That feeling of a disaster. 'Yeah, yeah, I got it.'

'Can you read me that number back please sir,' the man on the phone asked again. I read it back, he said ok, I hung up. I called Erich in from the kitchen and told Ben what they said. We were all thinking the same thing: Liz is the only young woman we could think of that called this number. Ben tried to call her and she didn't pick up.

Ben said he'd call the number. He tried from the ground line and it wouldn't go through. We didn't know what the hell was going on. He went out on the porch and tried with his cell phone, and again it didn't work. I dialed it on the ground line and it still didn't work.

'I'll call the landlord,' Erich said. Our landlord is a cop. Erich left a message with him and we sat around. Erich turned off the television and the house was in that electrical tension 'pre-disaster' mode. I went online to see if the Trib had any stories about car wrecks.

Erich's phone rings. He says, 'it's him,' and picks it up. Soon into the conversation Erich starts smiling, and gives the thumbs up. He talked for a little longer and hung up.

'So what the hell is going on?' I say.

'Jim says it's a phishing scam - we've got to call ComCast and tell them. They call and then use your line for long-distance calls.'

Holy shit we were relieved. Hofmann started laughing. I thought it was weird that they gave us a phone number to call that started with a star.

So folks, beware if prison calls your house, because they may be trying to trick you into forwarding a call for them by telling you your friends and loved ones are horribly mangled. What a sick scam, but what a relief when we found out it was just a scam! No cops, no accidents, no nothing.

We got phished.