The Sept. 8 editorial "Con artists calling" was a very important one for me, because a close friend of mine who retired two years ago had a similar experience. His case involved what the editorial refers to as a refund-type fraud.
A swindler posing as a tax office worker phoned to say that my friend was owed a tax refund for the previous year. My friend believed it since he thought that a "public" authority was calling him. He gave out bank note numbers and his wife's cell phone number.
After some time passed, the swindler asked him how much he had saved at the bank. He wondered why the tax office wanted to know that, then realized it was a scam (furikome-sagi)! Fortunately his wife didn't answer the phone when the swindler called, and my friend managed to escape being conned.
My friend told me honestly that he wanted the money so bad that he believed an "authority" was calling him. He later learned that the tax office always sends a letter for this kind of refund -- it never uses the phone only for this kind of business. It also may be useful to keep in mind that the swindler already knew of my friend's retirement.
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