Cindy,

I also can't imagine what scam artist would try to bilk an institution by
threatening a lawsuit as the opening line of a conversation!
My first reaction would be to ask "Mrs. Larson" to send (fax) me a copy of
the fax in question so that I could check what it was about before
proceeding to take any action about it. I would think that if she were
unable to send a fax of the fax that that would end the conversation right
there. The other tack (which might also stop things dead in the water) would
be to ask what the fax was about because if it was an order or regarding an
invoice, then I would have the original copy of the fax which was allegedly
sent and therefore could address its contents.
As scams go, it sounds like these folks have some things to learn -- I mean,
if they want to trump up a non-paid invoice or phony order, then the
business office would be the place to go to to resolve that (if not the
acquisitions department itself). Furthermore, in any kind of legal action,
THEIR legal counsel talks to YOUR legal counsel and if things have gone that
far, their lawyer already knows who your lawyer is.
Maybe we should send Mrs. Larson a list of other known scam-agents so that
she could get some mentoring!!

Peter Picerno

Dr. Peter V. Picerno
Scarborough-Phillips Library
St. Edward's University
3001 South Congress Ave
Austin  TX  78704-6489
512.464.8825
fax 512.448.8737
Please note that my new e-mail address is: petervp@admin.stedwards.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Lafferty, Cindy
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 11:15 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Scam alert: Watch out for phone calls from "Mrs.
Larson"/American Directory Listing

Rick,

Thanks for warning us about this scam.  Could you clarify exactly what
these people are trying to accomplish?  I'm aware of the scam involving
callers asking for the model of your copier/printer/fax so they can send
you toner with inflated prices in the hope that you will pay it assuming
that someone else ordered it, but I'm not sure how these people plan on
making money off of haranguing people.

Cindy

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Rick Anderson
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 10:44 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Scam alert: Watch out for phone calls from "Mrs.
Larson"/American Directory Listing

Hi, everyone --

I just got off the phone with someone who identified herself only as
"Mrs. Larson", and said she was calling because of a fax I had sent to a
directory publisher.  (She said the name of the publisher very quickly,
and I didn't catch it.)  She said that she wanted to speak with our
attorney.  I offered to give her the name and number of the appropriate
office, but first I wanted to ask her a few questions of my own.  I
asked for her full name, which she refused to give me.  I asked for the
name of the company she works for.  She said her "office" was called
Pentium Capital.  I asked whether it was a law firm, and she said yes.
When I asked for her phone number, she gave me (514) 693-5171.  When I
tried to ask another couple of questions, she got very indignant and
asked if I was refusing to give her the name of our attorney.  I said
no, but that I wanted to know a little bit more about what was going on.
She told me she'd see me in court and hung up.

I looked up "Pentium Capital" on Google and found an Asian financial
company or two, but nothing else.  Since she had given me a phone
number, I decided to call it and see what happened.  The call was
answered by an automated attendant that said "Welcome to our corporate
offices."  When I dialed zero I got a live person who said the same
thing, so I asked what company had its offices there.  She said that
several companies did, and when I asked her to list them she did so
quickly and nervously; one of them was American Directory Listing.  When
I asked her to repeat the list more slowly so that I could write them
down, she got very uneasy and said she was just a receptionist; then she
said she was just an answering service.  When I said "That's okay, all I
need is the names of the companies," she told me to hold.  Then she
transferred me to another phone line, which was answered by none other
than "Mrs. Larson."  When I asked "Mrs. Larson" the names of the
companies she represented, she got very huffy indeed and asked me who I
thought I was.  I told her I thought I was the person she had called and
threatened with legal action just ten minutes earlier.  Strangely, she
didn't seem to remember me, but she got very angry and started yelling,
and told me never to call that number again.

The reason I'm telling you all this story in such detail is that ADL is
a company we've all had dealings with before, and I know of at least one
other librarian who has gotten a call from "Mrs. Larson" recently, so we
(and our staffs) all need to be on the alert.  She is very aggressive
and probably capable of bringing someone on your staff to tears if she
gets the right person on the phone.  (I'm fairly experienced in dealing
with these people, and even I was a bit shaken after our initial
conversation.  The second conversation was so off-the-wall that it was
actually quite comforting -- there was no longer any doubt in my mind
that I was dealing with a scam artist.)

Be strong and wary...

----
Rick Anderson
Dir. of Resource Acquisition
University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
(775) 784-6500 x273
rickand@unr.edu