Many years ago when I was working at an RV sales place, waiting for my resume to attract an employer, I had a guy come on the lot who was interested in the big Class A buses. Especially the Newmar coaches we had, which was our top of the line bus. As I was talking to him, it came out that his wife had called him from Las Vegas and told him that she had “won the Irish lottery” and that he should go and buy the most expensive RV he could find. I didn’t have the heart to tell him.
So instead you sold him the most expensive RV on the lot?
“That’s the only way they’ll learn.”
(Riffle a stack of hundred dollar bills.)
Hey, a sale is a sale. Gotta make the monthly quota, you know. 
He didn’t buy anything, at least not from our dealership.
I was on my way home from a weekend trip and my Discover card was rejected at a restaurant. Fortunately I had another card I could use. When I got home there was a message on my answering machine from Discover Security; my card had been flagged because it had been used multiple times “away from my usual location”. I confirmed that I had been out of town and that all the charges were legitimate, and the hold was lifted. I was also told that the restaurant should have called Discover Security and let me talk to them while I was there, but apparently they couldn’t be bothered.
I used to have a cell phone number that had been previously used by Gretchen, a committee chairwoman of the Republican Party in the next county. Oh, I had great fun with that. “Is this Gretchen?” “Yes, Gretchen speaking.” “About the next meeting…” “There is no next meeting! It’s canceled!” Then I would get calls from other Republicans: “Gretchen, what’s this about the meeting being canceled?” I would keep them going as long as I could.
I love it!!
That’s a somewhat reasonable response to unusual purchasing patterns, but I’d never heard of a place letting the business call with you there to straighten it out.
We were doing back-to-school shopping one year and my card got flagged after the 4th stop or so. No unusual amounts, these were all within 15 miles or so of home. The bank made no effort to notify me.
Now, the time I bought 10 pairs of shoes in a shop 200 miles from home - a HIGHLY unusual purchasing pattern - I don’t blame them for flagging the account.
In all honesty, if Gretchen didn’t update everyone with her new number, she deserved all the anger she received.
When I was working for a credit card processor – the link between the merchant and the card association – I got calls all of the time from merchants,* “The card is being declined. What’s wrong?” I would tell them we do not know and have no way of fixing it even if the card holder’s bank told us, then tell them to tell the card holder to call the number on the back of the card.
*Once I got a call from the card holder. The merchant had given him our number and told him to call. Since he had no clue what the merchant’s account number was I couldn’t even see the transaction in question.
You should have “had the heart to tell him”. You did him no favor, as he probably spent the money he couldn’t afford to lose elsewhere, while his poor uninformed wife was probably spending like crazy also.
Perhaps. However, like any automotive dealer, RV lots also run credit checks. Nobody is going to sell a vehicle on a promise of winning a sweepstakes. The rig he was looking at was at least $350K. Hell, for all I know, perhaps HE was trying to scam ME.
This was back in the time before cellphones (when dinosaurs walked the Earth) so I had no way to call Discover myself to straighten it out until I got home. I do remember that at some point credit cards started offering you an option to notify them if you were planning to travel, presumably to prevent this sort of problem.
I always figured the scam there was they used one star, & if I compared the location on your star certificate with the location on my (theoretical) star certificate they would be exactly the same. It costs time/money to change the coordinates on that certificate yanno.
I just got one (in my Junk mail);
- the name & the email don’t match
Subject - “I would like it if I matched with a guy like you on the website. 
”.
- Ummm, what website? I’m not on any dating websites, or apps. It doesn’t make the SO happy.
Body - I am Gigi. 
You’re welcome to be the man I am starting a relationship with. I want a romantic date if you’ll join me.
{Hyperlink} I have pictures of myself here 
{/Hyperlink}
So what say you Dopers, is that a virus or the start of a romance scam?
Well, that certainly makes the scam worse.
I forgot there was also the “Scottish Laird” scam. Here is an example of one such company:
You own a piece of land as small as 1’ square, and they claim that due to that you can legally be considered a “Laird, Lord, or Lady” (depending on the pitch) and they’ll even send a certificate you can hang on the wall that supposedly proves your title. But it’s BS because that’s not how the law works in Scotland (and “Laird” isn’t even a title; it just means “landowner”, and it doesn’t grant nobility in Scotland any more than owning a piece of land in the US does). Even if it was, the company doesn’t actually put any land in your name; that’s a fiction.
The company claims that it’s a “gag gift” and everyone is in on the joke, including customers, but that’s clearly a lie. And there are other companies who have done something similar. You can even own a piece of the moon.
You are evil and I love you for it.
Why not both? If it is real, you may well end up with a virus of the biological kind.
I have a friend who is a colonel, like colonel Sanders.