Today's Scam

I got an automated phone call this morning, purporting to be from FPL.  The recording said my electricity would be cut off in 30 minutes, because I didn't pay my bill.  I was to call 800-450-5735 to resolve this.  It didn't sound hopeful, though.  It sounded like I was going to lose my power.  So, I called the number.  (I later checked, and it was from this same number that I got the initial automated call.)

When I called, the response was also automated, and it sounded like FPL.  "To pay your bill, press 1," etc.  I asked for a representative.  The woman confirmed what the original message said, and it still didn't sound like there was anything I could do about this in what was now less than a half an hour.  She asked for my phone number, which I gave her.  She said "Is this Alfred Jonas?"  Yes, it was.  She then confirmed my address as 1175 NE 125th St in North Miami.  This is very strange, because that's the building where my office is, and I don't have an account with FPL there.  I pay rent to the building, and they have an account with FPL.  So I told her that was not my address.  She then came back with my home address, where I do have an FPL account.  I confirmed.  I assume, by the way, that this kind of information is available online through a "reverse phone book," starting with a phone number.

I then reviewed with her what she ("FPL") said was going on, and why it didn't make any sense.  She/they said I didn't pay my bill, but I never pay a bill with FPL.  They have my banking information, they send me an e-mail telling me my bill for the month, and they take the money themselves.  The woman then said they had changed their servers, or something, and accounts had to be verified.  She said I had received three mailed notices to confirm my banking, and I hadn't responded to any of them.  I told her I never received anything.  She said maybe the post office wasn't delivering all of my mail.  I told her I get mail every day, and there's no reason for them to withhold anything.

Further, she said I hadn't paid in November, December, or January.  I pointed out this didn't make sense, because if I hadn't paid in November, or if FPL had been unable to access my bank account, my December bill would have been for two months.  It wasn't.  Either she offered, or I requested, to speak to her supervisor.  In the meantime, tick, tick, tick on my 30 supposedly remaining minutes of electric power.

The supervisor was some guy.  I started to review the problem, and I happened to mention that this sounded a bit scammy.  (So far, it involved an 800 number, an official-sounding recording, and two people.  So, I wasn't 100% sure.)  As soon as I said "scammy," he said that if I thought this was a scam, I would have to talk to the main office in Juno Beach.  In person.  Well, that wasn't going to happen, so I continued to explain what was presented to me, and why it didn't make sense.  At some point, the call disconnected.

I felt reasonably sure this was a scam, evidenced in part by the fact that I still had electricity.  So I went to my online banking, and I could see that the expected withdrawals from FPL had in fact happened.  So, this was very clearly a scam.  I then called the real FPL (888 number, not 800), told them about it, and they told me it was already under investigation, because they've already gotten lots of calls.

So, just be aware.  Scams get increasingly sophisticated, and it wouldn't have taken long for me just to "confirm" the details of my bank account, and access to it.  There was enough sketchy to prevent me from giving any information, but it was made very easy and straightforward.

Oh, Dan...

There was supposed to be a "workshop" tonight regarding driveways and swales.  The Commission agreed to it, and the scheduled date was today.  Dan Samaria called me earlier today to tell me Krishan Manners called him to say the workshop was cancelled.  Dan said that Krishan said the reason for the cancellation was that Krishan did not finish putting together a draft Ordinance, which was supposed to be the topic of conversation for the workshop.  It wasn't clear to me whether Krishan told Dan that he, Krishan, was cancelling the workshop, or that Tracy Truppman cancelled it, because "Krishan" didn't complete his task.  But it was cancelled, and Dan was very displeased.  He said he had spoken to the Andersons and the Kuhls, and they, too, were displeased.  No one seemed to think this cancellation was right, or properly done.  I didn't think so, either, and I advised Dan to do what he was planning to do, which was to hold a gathering anyway.  Specifically, I suggested he tell Krishan to inform the other Commissioners that the cancellation was faulty, and that the meeting should be reinstated.  At that point, Dan said someone else was calling him, and he'd get back to me.  Right.

So, I decided to attend Dan's protest meeting.  Unfortunately, it was a standard Dan Samaria gathering, which mostly highlighted Dan letting us know he and we had been wronged, and he was doing the right thing, and was "listening to the residents."  This meant encouraging whoever was in attendance to go through the proposed Ordinance, and say what they thought, which I guess will be Dan's insights when the make-up "workshop" occurs, next Thursday (January 24).

Those in attendance were Janey Anderson, Gary and Barbara Kuhl, Ernesto Oliva(?), Jorge Marinoni, Brian McNoldy, Dan Keys, Art Gonzalez, Jared Susi, and someone whose name I don't know, but who says he's lived here 25 years, and still wants a gate to keep out unwelcome people, illustrated tonight by a black male who might have been up to no good, but who knocked on the door.  And, recording, was Milt Hunter.  I hope I didn't miss anyone.  Chuck Ross stopped by briefly, but today being Rox's birthday, the two of them were able to think of something better to do with their evening than being at this gathering.  Happy Birthday, Rox.

Well, the meeting soon enough devolved into the space where meetings like this go.  Gary Kuhl got annoyed that others were off track, and Dan Keys, who knows everything about everything, told us everything about everything, and had to disqualify and dismiss anything anyone else said.  It was the old Dan Keys show, starring...Dan...Keys.  The other Dan, the Samaria one, just sat back and listened, presumably complimenting himself for having stimulated this lively, if deadly, discussion.  Which was really more like a drone than a discussion.  You can fall asleep in the presence of Dan Keys.  Or you can get smolderingly annoyed.  Unless you get up and leave, which is what I did.

I Miscalculated. I Didn't Go. I'm Sorry.

I was going to go to the Commission meeting last night.  But I was exhausted.  I would have gone anyway.  But I looked at the agenda, saw there was nothing on it, and decided not to bother.

How could I have known that Tracy Truppman would get all tyrannical, and not let either of the Rosses have a proper word during Public Comment?  How could I have guessed she would start overtalking Chuck when he was less than a minute into his comment?  How could I have imagined Betsy Wise would introduce some nonsense at the last minute, then "bitch-slap" other residents who had actual content of their own?

So I missed the whole thing, however long it might have taken.  (My other theory was that there wasn't a half hour's worth of content on the agenda anyway, which means yeah, Tracy Truppman will consume two hours or more with it, but I wouldn't miss anything substantive by staying home.)  I'll try to watch the video of the meeting.  I'll blog it.  Or, even better, you can blog it.  Let me know you were there, and that you want to report what happened, and how you understood it, and it's all yours.