"I am staring at my computer, mouth ajar, when my phone rings. The call is from an unknown mobile number, which I would not normally answer, but I've just emailed someone requesting an interview, with my own phone number appended to the bottom, and I'm hoping this might be them. I'm also hoping it might not be them. Hello? I say. Hello, is that Tim, yeah? a male voice says. I leave a long pause. Yeah, I say."
"As bewildered as I am, it still hurts to be randomly rung up and laughed at. I leave my office shed, cross the garden, step into the kitchen and tell the oldest one what happened. Soon he too is laughing. What was he trying to do? he says. I don't know, I say. Maybe he was on his first day of being a phone scammer, and forgot to read the part of the script where he pretends to be from my bank."
A person receives an unexpected call from an unknown mobile number shortly after emailing and leaving a phone number. The caller mistakes the person for "Tim" and asks urgent questions about an account while sounding like he is in a busy call centre. The caller then becomes hysterical and laughs, prompting the person to hang up. The person feels hurt and bewildered by being laughed at and shares the incident with a household member, who also laughs and speculates the caller was an inexperienced scammer or mocking them. The person notes a genuine incomprehension in response to potential manipulation and criticizes the lack of professionalism even among scammers.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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