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Author
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Topic: Miss Cleo Clipped
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TommyPaineatWork
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2956
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posted 15 November 2002 05:59 AM
Where were you Sept. 10 2001? Holiday......?
quote:
Beales said that during three years of operation the service charged people about $1 billion and collected half of it. The callers did include many satisfied customers, he said.
There's a part of me that thinks maybe the U.S. courts wasted tax payer dollars in the prosecution here..... "I got duped by a crooked psychic" Next on Jerry Springer.......... quote:
Florida authorities have a civil case pending against the service's spokeswoman, Youree Dell Harris, known in advertising as the Jamaican mystic "Miss Cleo." During a deposition in June, Harris repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, refusing to discuss a birth certificate that shows she was born in Los Angeles to American parents.
AND that fake accent wasn't a tip off? I say collect the outstanding half a billion and give it to charity.
From: London | Registered: Aug 2002
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skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478
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posted 15 November 2002 12:22 PM
Sort of tangentially related:I am still a little stunned by a phone conversation I had yesterday. I was being called by the Fraud Department of my credit-card company. I had actually ignored a couple of messages from them because I misunderstood the message and thought they were just trying to sell me insurance or something. But no. The woman caller said that the company had detected an unusual pattern of charges to my card, and asked me to verify the names of a number of recipients. And then she read me the list. Holy mackerel.  Somebody's been using my (now dead) number online! How the hell???  I must say, I never expected to be grateful to my credit-card company, but they're obviously doing something right in the intelligence department. (Maybe the Shrub's Homeland Security guys should ditch the incompetents who've been running the show thus far and hire my people.  ) How do they (ie: the credit-card people) do what they do? Anyway, happy ending, I suppose. I have to wait for a new card and number, which for me isn't that big a deal. But does anyone know how this happened? I have bought things online, but not that much -- should I give up believing in online security altogether? Or could someone have got my number some other way? I still feel a little stunned. And a little -- I don't know -- spied on?
From: gone | Registered: May 2001
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Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
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posted 15 November 2002 12:33 PM
Nah, you're not being spied on. This has happened to me a few times (the calls, not the fraud). What they do is, if something strange in your pattern of spending happens on your credit card, they call you up to make sure your card number hasn't been stolen.For instance, last year I paid my tuition on my VISA, to be paid back once I got my student loan. The amount of a few thousand dollars flagged my account since I normally don't spend anywhere near that much, and a rep called me to make sure the transaction was mine. I got the same thing the first time I ever rented a car, because I hadn't done that before. I think after a while, their program also gets a feel for what KIND of purchases you normally make on your card, what kind of businesses. So probably if all of a sudden a bunch of 1-900 sex line numbers were coming up on my card after having it for 5 years without ever having made that type of purchase, they would likely call. I'm willing to bet that there are certain industries like that which get flagged automatically the first time you purchase them - online porn/sex lines/escort services, etc. While it did bother me a bit, at the same time I figure, they're going to know what I'm spending my money on because they have the details for every transaction. So I would prefer that they have those security measures in place.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
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