One interesting evening

So the phone rang again. It was a number and name I didn't recognize, but as they showed the caller ID, I went ahead and answered it. It was a gal who started asking questions about stuff that was ordered over the internet. They were receiving boxes at their house. I told her that my VISA numbers had been stolen and that a bunch of stuff had been charged on January 7th and 8th. She said she saw my name and billing address on the delivery sheet and wondered if I had anything to do with a guy named Shaun Jefferson who had asked them to forward the merchandise to him. I said that he was a thief and he was involving them in moving stolen merchandise. The gals said she thought something bad was happening, because she watches Dateline a lot. I started to take down their information and then I realized that I was talking to Patricia's daughter. Patricia was the person who I was originally informed about; the gal who lives in PORTERVILLE. The light bulb went on. OH! So you are the guys in Porterville! I thought *they* were the bad guys. It turns out that Patricia, a woman with a 25-y-o daughter in Porterville had been ditzing around on My Space. There a guy contacted her and was able to get her home address out of her and told her some sob story about how he was presently in the UK, but somebody owed him money and was sending a package for his son. So could she please forward the goods to an address in New Jersey when it arrives? Then all sorts of boxes started coming to her. They were all addressed in her name and coming to her house. The daughter got the wind up and tracked me down by calling So Cal information. Same way the internet catalog found me the week before, by calling information based on my name and address as the billing address on the VISA card. She asked what she should do with the stuff. At first I told her to send it back to the places. But then I decided she was in receipt of stolen goods and she should call the police right away and have them haul it off. She got a little scared that the police would think she stole it, but I told her it would be fine. If she were guilty, they would not have called me, right? I told her the only thing she was guilty of was being dumb on the internet. I told her not to give out her personal information out over the internet any more, and don't contact Shaun ever again, as he was clearly a bad guy and he might be dangerous and he knows where she lives.

After I hung up I decided to call my local police department to give them the information. They sent a police man over to my house right away to take a report. When he heard the story, he rolled his eyes and said this was a typical Nigerian scam. He said that the local police would not be investigating this, as no crime had occurred locally, but he would call Patricia right away, and send all the information to the police in Porterville. I was given a case number to use with the banks and credit agencies if necessary.

The boys were SO excited to see a policeman at the house. They came up and introduced themselves and were bouncing around the house.