Monday, May 01, 2006

Paul from the Prize claim center

I just got called by a guy purporting to be Paul from the Prize claim center. I get about two calls a week from him, all to my business cell phone. This is the first time I have had a call while sitting down at a computer. So I did a Google on the telephone number. Apparently it has been used by a timeshare company with a certain reputation. Other people report the same scam.

"Hi, this is Paul from the prize claim center. We have great news for you regarding the contest entry form you submitted to win a brand-new automobile. We pulled your ticket; you guys have actually won one of our top four major prizes, and it would be in your best interest to give us a call back as soon as possible. We can be reached at 877-256-7894. Do not hesitate to give us a call back, folks. We have great news for you."

It does not appear to be a dialing fraud scheme, it is an 877 toll free number, the dodgy SS7 setups that used to be used to forward to premium rate numbers have been shut down.

I have not entered a lottery recently and if I had a company contacting me to tell me I had won a car would not be using a pre-recorded message- how likely is it that they are genuinely giving away so many cars that they would do that? If I had genuinely won a prize there would be a live person on the call, they would begin by greating me by name, they would tell me the competition I entered and where.

2 comments:

Matthew L Carter said...

At 10/13/2006 2:59:22 PM I got this
"Hi this is Paul from the prize claim center, we have great news for you regarding the contest entry form you submitted to win a brand new automobile, we pulled your ticket, you guys have actually won one of our top four major prizes and it would be in your best interest to report back at as soon as possible, we can be reached toll free at 877-256-7894 do not hesitate to give us a call back folks, we have great news for you."

Matthew L Carter said...
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