Paul Derengowski, ThM
The Bible tells us that “evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived,” in the latter days (2 Tim. 3:13).
Today, another in a long line of phone scammers tried to pull a ruse upon me by claiming to be an Apple Computer employee.
Calling from 1-410-972-3290—or 510-248-4247, if you wanted to call back—which displayed as Apple Inc. on my telephone, the employee’s schtick was preceded by a message claiming that my Apple ID had been compromised and he was calling to alert me with a solution.
Earlier in the day I received a similar call from Apple Inc., but from a different telephone number, and simply chose not to answer.
This time, though, I thought I would have a little fun with the “spoofer” and answer the call, but not until I had my handy-dandy recorder ready to document our conversation.
With a Middle Eastern accent, the conman tried to explain the reason for his call, which made no sense to me.
If he knew that my Apple ID was compromised, then why did he have to ask for information?
In the past, when someone managed to pilfer my Social Security information and open up a couple of Sprint phone accounts, the fraud department from Sprint called and asked if I had, indeed, opened those accounts.
Within 30 seconds, both accounts were history, and no further discussion proceeded.
When I started asking the Apple imposter questions, though, that is when his whole ID and foolishness began to unravel.
Not only was he no longer concerned for my Apple ID security, he did not want to answer my questions.
Subsequent return phone calls and speaking with other “agents” revealed the same timidity and avoidance.
He simply wanted to get off the phone as quickly as possible, which he did, leaving me with an ambivalent feeling of success and somber.
Success that the guy failed to beguile me; somberness over knowing that others would be beguiled into victimhood, coupled with the realization that the imposter will, one day, be judged—rather harshly, I would assume—for his insipid chicanery.
Overall, the moral to this story would be, be very careful who you talk to and about what.
Although we may not necessarily be living in the very last days of human existence, prior to the coming of the Lord, and certainly the Apostle Paul did not have phone scammers in mind when he wrote his warning, with each passing day, there are “evil men and imposters” out there who are constantly devising new and clever ways to deceive the unsuspecting and unwary.
Those who are not diligent are not only robbed of their livelihoods, in more ways than one, they often times spend years undoing all the damage.
Conversely, those who are diligent, get to expose the “evil men” for what they are at their expense; perhaps, unfortunately, for eternity.
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