Holidays, Irony, and American Express...Error.

[dagershman_dgt at dagertech.net (David A. Gershman)]

Error in message.  The number was not, allegedly, a card number but a
"reference number".  My apologies for the mistake.

--David

> Hello Everyone and Happy Holidays!
>
> I just thought I'd communicate a bit of fun information to you.  I
> consider myself a nice guy who does the right thing.  But today, I'm
> going to proclaim myself *potentially* the best cracker (not
> hacker...I'm old school) in existence.
>
> Lesser, wanna-be, crackers need to send out spam, phishing emails, build
> fake sites, etc, etc, etc to get credit card information.  Not I.  Being
> one, if not the best, means I merely need to sit back on the couch
> eating a ham sandwich watching my fully-enjoyed Boston Legal and have
> other just _give me_ credit card information.  In fact, I don't even
> deal with individuals...the credit card company willing gives me this
> information!  Beat that you phishing, spamming losers!
>
> I got a call on my answering machine last night with the message
> (paraphrasing):
>
>   "Hello.  This is an important message from American Express.  We 
>    are trying to locate Mr. XXXX YYYYY regarding card number 
>    NNNNNNNNNNN.  Please call use back at 866-NNN-NNNN."
>
> No joke...they gave me the guys name *AND CREDIT CARD NUMBER*!  
>
> Ok, so you're thinking this may be a scam.  I don't think so.  This is 1
> of at least 8 calls I've received in that 2 weeks.   All with the same
> name, same CC number, and same 866 number.  I think if it was a scam the
> info would vary.
>
> Happy Holidays from American Express!
>
> P.S. Do you really need to ask?  Of course I called them back (from a
> public phone of course) and informed them of their...shall we say "gift"?

---------------
David A. Gershman
gershman at dagertech.net
http://dagertech.net/gershman/
"It's all about the path!" --d. gershman