Welcome and Not So Welcome Visitors

At 3:43 pm local time yesterday, the MerleSneed blog welcomed its 2000th visitor, our good friend from the continent of Australia. As always, my humble thanks to each of the several people who regularly check in, as well to the occasional or accidental visitor. When I first started blogging, I wondered if anyone ever read my inconsequential ramblings. When I discovered that I could add a site meter, I confirmed my suspicion that no one did. Each Monday the site meter people sent me an email, showing visits by date and time. It was always zeroes, not a visitor. Anyway, times have changed and now I can proudly boast about 8 to 10 visitors a day, not counting the lovely Mrs. Sneed or Daughter Sneed. The Sons Sneed are totally disinterested. Evidently, they have heard it all before, at least that's their story. So people are asking, "Merle, what's next?" The obvious answer, of course, is reaching our 3000th visitor. My strategy? One visitor at a time. That's how we dooz it here at the Sneed blog. I mean that's how we roll. Ya feel me? Gotta love the hip-hop. Man, I crack myself up. On a more serious front, I was checking my bank account online yesterday and I discovered a mystery debit withdrawal of $12.95 made by Icon Design Concepts in Orange City, Florida, on Christmas Day. Since I neither was in Orange City, nor made a purchase on that day, I was suspicious and my suspicions proved accurate. Icon Design Concepts of Orange City, Florida, USA, is a front for a thieving crook or thieving crooks in beautiful New Zealand. I called my bank and they said it was an electronic withdrawal, using my debit card number. Since it was processed as a charge, the aforementioned thieving crook or crooks apparently don't know the pin number. The bank gave me the phone number that was used as a reference for the transaction. When I called the number, it was an answering machine. The message said that no operators were available and to leave a message or contact them at support@iconconcepts.com. I left a message that I can't really post, and my email to them was returned as undeliverable by an internet carrier in New Zealand. The way this scheme works is that these people send nominal transactions through a bank account, as though they are real merchant, to see if it processes. If so, they hit you with a bigger one. I was lucky that I caught it and the bank stopped a possible larger transaction. The crooks also set up a bogus phone number connected to an answering machine, to lend credibility to their phony business front. The email address is to give credence to the chronically unanswered phone line. My bank was upfront in telling me that if I filed a police report and filled out a claim form with them they would replace the money. Since it is only $12.95, its not worth the bother of contacting the police and then picking up a report. If it was $1295 rest assured that I would be all over it. The bank has also shutdown my debit card for additional transactions, so I will be without a debit card for 7 to 10 days. That's a hassle. I guess I will need to pull my credit report too. Normally, I would be hopping mad about this, but what's the point? These are faceless scum that no one has the wherewithal, nor the inclination to catch. The loss here is only mine, because I choose to make it mine, rather than jumping through hoops for a buck or twelve. I suppose that eventually the banking industry will figure better ways to stop this sort of stuff from happening. I could dial 1-386-955-4388 and leave nasty voice mails, but no one at Icon Design Concepts of Orange City, Florida will hear it anyway, since they are probably in New Zealand, collecting their ill-gotten booty. I can tell you that the Orange City police aren't interested in checking out the phone number. Anyway, another good reason to have online banking and to check the activity each day, despite those who might think it is an obsessive practice. Merle. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgemental and cranky Tag: Daily Life Personal Finance Humor