Pranked

I love a good joke. I’ve shared some of them before on my blog and my posts. Many I have committed against others while others have been done to me. As long as the jokes are not offensive or if a joke doesn’t hurt someone, especially me, I am in for it. My son has now followed is his father’s footsteps and I am shocked that he learned so well at my knee.

During the past week, I’ve had a message left on my answering machine that I’d won The Publishers Clearing House prize. Both calls had a slow paced male voice, sharing the joyous information that I had won. Each time the voice had a slight accent that was more pronounced on certain words. A major reason the calls went to the answering machine was I was in my bedroom, listening to the television, and trying to stay cool with a fan blowing in my ears.

The first caller stated that all I needed to do to claim my prize was to call back and give them my Social Security number. They needed it to transfer the monies into my bank account. I thought it was a bit unusual they caller left no return number, but with most folks having caller I.D. on home phones, I didn’t think too much of it.

Several days later, I had the second call. It went to the answering machine for the same reason that the first call ended up there. The male voice on the machine had the same cadence, but a little deeper this time. The sales pitch was almost word for word the same as the first. I was convinced that it was a person reading the spiel from a script. But this time there was one change. The voice asked for my credit card number instead of my Social Security number. Again, he asked me to return the call and left no return telephone number.

This morning while getting ready for church, the house phone rang. It was my son, Andrew from Amarillo, Texas. We talked in generalities until his conscience got the best of him and he confessed. He said he saw my post on the Publishers Clearing House. I think his wife Renee, read it and told him he needed to call and come clean or I’d have gone on believing there was a scammer out there somewhere gunning for me. I'd been pranked.

I was so surprised I forgot to ask him what the prize I’d won was.