[Sca-librarians] Fwd: Scam alert: Watch out for phone calls from "Mrs. Larson"/American Directory Listing

[Scott Briggs]

Hey all, I received this from our internal List-Serv. Figured I pass it 
along as it might be of interest to all of you.


>A warning from the Acquisitions list:
>
>
>>Subject: Scam alert: Watch out for phone calls from "Mrs. Larson"/American
>>Directory Listing
>>Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 07:44:02 -0800
>>From: "Rick Anderson" <rickand at unr.edu>
>>To: <acqnet-l at listproc.appstate.edu>,
>>         "SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum"
>><SERIALST at LIST.UVM.EDU>,
>>         <liblicense-l at lists.yale.edu>
>>
>>Hi, everyone --
>>
>>I just got off the phone with someone who identified herself only as
>>"Mrs. Larson", and said she was calling because of a fax I had sent to a
>>directory publisher.  (She said the name of the publisher very quickly,
>>and I didn't catch it.)  She said that she wanted to speak with our
>>attorney.  I offered to give her the name and number of the appropriate
>>office, but first I wanted to ask her a few questions of my own.  I
>>asked for her full name, which she refused to give me.  I asked for the
>>name of the company she works for.  She said her "office" was called
>>Pentium Capital.  I asked whether it was a law firm, and she said yes.
>>When I asked for her phone number, she gave me (514) 693-5171.  When I
>>tried to ask another couple of questions, she got very indignant and
>>asked if I was refusing to give her the name of our attorney.  I said
>>no, but that I wanted to know a little bit more about what was going on.
>>She told me she'd see me in court and hung up.
>>
>>I looked up "Pentium Capital" on Google and found an Asian financial
>>company or two, but nothing else.  Since she had given me a phone
>>number, I decided to call it and see what happened.  The call was
>>answered by an automated attendant that said "Welcome to our corporate
>>offices."  When I dialed zero I got a live person who said the same
>>thing, so I asked what company had its offices there.  She said that
>>several companies did, and when I asked her to list them she did so
>>quickly and nervously; one of them was American Directory Listing.  When
>>I asked her to repeat the list more slowly so that I could write them
>>down, she got very uneasy and said she was just a receptionist; then she
>>said she was just an answering service.  When I said "That's okay, all I
>>need is the names of the companies," she told me to hold.  Then she
>>transferred me to another phone line, which was answered by none other
>>than "Mrs. Larson."  When I asked "Mrs. Larson" the names of the
>>companies she represented, she got very huffy indeed and asked me who I
>>thought I was.  I told her I thought I was the person she had called and
>>threatened with legal action just ten minutes earlier.  Strangely, she
>>didn't seem to remember me, but she got very angry and started yelling,
>>and told me never to call that number again.
>>
>>The reason I'm telling you all this story in such detail is that ADL is
>>a company we've all had dealings with before, and I know of at least one
>>other librarian who has gotten a call from "Mrs. Larson" recently, so we
>>(and our staffs) all need to be on the alert.  She is very aggressive
>>and probably capable of bringing someone on your staff to tears if she
>>gets the right person on the phone.  (I'm fairly experienced in dealing
>>with these people, and even I was a bit shaken after our initial
>>conversation.  The second conversation was so off-the-wall that it was
>>actually quite comforting -- there was no longer any doubt in my mind
>>that I was dealing with a scam artist.)
>>
>>Be strong and wary...
>>
>>----
>>Rick Anderson
>>Dir. of Resource Acquisition
>>University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
>>(775) 784-6500 x273
>>rickand at unr.edu
>>
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>
>
>
>Scott Briggs
>University Library
>Reserves Unit
>15 Lippitt Rd.
>Kingston, RI 02881
>(401) 874-5855
>Scottb at uri.edu