By Mark Harvey
Greed is an amazing thing, but that isn’t news.
Pretty much, it seems that if there’s way to get blood out of a turnip, or any money out of any of us, someone will find a way to do it — or try to, at least.
And that indomitable entrepreneurial spirit doesn’t always limit itself to the common confines of “legality.”
It feels to me sometimes that cons, scams and whatnots have gotten easier as our world has gotten more and more complex. You can start with the internet and email and social media and robo-calls and desktop publishing, but that’s not all there is to it. The financial world in which most of us attempt to function has become, it seems, infinite and monolithic: This business is owned by that holding company, which is part of this corporation, and they bought something from so-and-so, repackaged it and sold it to somebody else, who called it something else and tried to sell it back to us.
Or something like that.
And, after a while, we can sort of glaze over and just hope that we don’t end up being on the wrong end of someone else’s greed.
I get it — but we all need to know about this:
Recently, a reader who will remain nameless received a very official-looking packet of information from a very official-sounding “company.” Several pages detail the “fact” that she owes them $889.70, with absolutely no reference as to why.
It conspicuously proclaims the “good news” that she has been “pre-approved” for a discount program designed to save her money and advises her to “act now to maximize your savings and put this debt behind you.” Specifically, she could select Option 1 (40% off!) and pay a mere $533.82. Or, it appears, she could select Option 2 and skate by with six monthly payments of “only” $118.62. Or, if all else fails, our reader could opt for Option 3, and get by with monthly payments as low as $50 per month, and recommends she call “today” to discuss her options.
Conveniently, a payment coupon was enclosed, as was an account number, an original account number, a phone number and a couple of addresses, depending upon whether she wanted to talk, or just send money. The “original creditor” is named: a bank, with a lot of initials in its name and the word “Nevada.” Apparently, what happens in Nevada does not necessarily stay there.
Finally, there is an important-looking disclosure that says “IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION: This is a communication from a debt collector. This is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose.”
Wow.
Now, our reader, who does not seem to me addled, confused or demented, is adamant that she has never heard of these people, or the “original creditor,” and that she sure as you-know-what does not owe them $889.70. In fact, she is so sure that she took her official-looking packet to the folks at the post office, who hadn’t seen anything like it, so they asked her to fill out a form for mail fraud. She did.
Can I absolutely assure you — or her, or myself, for that matter — that this isn’t somehow a legitimate debt? Well, no. But I sure-as-heck can’t assure you that it is, either. And this gal has the chutzpah to say, rather vocally: I don’t think so!
Good for her.
So, what should the rest of us take away from this? Well, for one thing, the realization that we have been lulled-and-dulled into a mind-set of accepting whatever comes at us because it’s all too complex and only “they” understand it, so we’ll just do what somebody seems to be telling me to do because “they” must be right … and gee, it looks so official!
We’re not children, we’re not stupid and, at last census, most of us aren’t sheep. We’re reasonably intelligent human beings who have managed, somehow, to get this far. So we are allowed to say, “What?! Explain this to me slowly, and in excruciating detail, or take your ‘pre-approved discount program’ and…” Well, you get it.
Yes, that might inconvenience someone — and yes, I suppose it might even annoy someone. Gee! I’m so sorry.
Or it might make them look for greener pastures somewhere else.
Mark Harvey is the director of information and assistance for the Olympic Area Agency on Aging. He can be reached by email at harvemb@dshs.wa.gov; by phone at 360-532-0520 in Aberdeen, 360-942-2177 in Raymond, or 360-642-3634; or through Facebook at Olympic Area Agency on Aging-Information & Assistance.
