Re: The Return of Mrs. Larson (RE: Scam alert) Susan E. Sturgeon 14 Jan 2005 20:47 UTC
Rick - Keep up the good work. I will contribute to your defense fund if need be. Susan On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 11:59:00 -0800 Rick Anderson <rickand@UNR.EDU> wrote: > Hi, everyone -- > > For those who might be interested in hearing the latest in the "Mrs. > Larson" saga: On December 17 I posted a message alerting readers of this > list to the possibility that they might receive aggressive phone calls > from a woman identifying herself only as "Mrs. Larson" and claiming to > represent a company to which the library owes money. > > The woman who calls herself "Mrs. Larson" (but refuses to provide her > full name) apparently saw that posting today and left a voicemail > message for me this morning. She was very irate. She claims that she > never told me Pentium Capital was a law firm (she now says that it's a > collection agency), and said that my posting was full of lies. She also > says that she's going to forward my posting to the Federal Trade > Commission and the Better Business Bureau. Some of the other things she > said were syntactically incoherent, but if I understood some of it > correctly, she did mention that she had not originally called on behalf > of the American Directory Listing Service, so be on the lookout for > calls from her on behalf of some other company. > > After receiving that message, I did another Google search to try to find > any trace of a company called Pentium Capital. I still found nothing. > However, when I called "Mrs. Larson"'s phone number following our > conversation on 12/17 I was able to get the receptionist to tell me what > physical address I would use if I were going to send a UPS shipment to > her company, and the address she gave me was 2660 20th St., Port Huron, > MI, 48060. As it turns out, a company called DHL Danzas Air & Ocean has > its offices at that address. When I called that company, they said that > they have no record of any dealings with a company called Pentium > Capital -- however, they do handle postal returns for a company called > (wait for it...) American Directory Listing Service. The person I spoke > with at DHL Danzas is doing some investigation. > > By the way, the phone number that "Mrs. Larson" gave me is a Canadian > number (514-693-5171; her extension is 355). When I called it again > today and tried to get the receptionist to give me the address of the > office in which she works, she refused. When I asked her again to tell > me the names of the six companies that she says have offices there, she > told me she was "very busy" and put me on hold. > > When "Mrs. Larson" called me again today, one point on which she was > emphatic was that I was going to be hearing from her personal attorney, > since I have made public statements about her that she finds > objectionable. I called her back and she didn't answer her phone, so I > left her a voicemail message saying that if she would give me her full > name, explain the nature of her business with my library, and > substantiate whatever claims she may have on our money, I will happily > and publicly retract my earlier characterization of her as a probable > scam artist. I'll let you know if I get a response. > > Incidentally, since I sent out that posting on 12/17 I've heard from > several people outside the library profession who have had similar > dealings with "Mrs. Larson" and the companies she represents. (These > companies do not only target libraries -- they also go after small > business owners.) > > ---- > Rick Anderson > Dir. of Resource Acquisition > University of Nevada, Reno Libraries > (775) 784-6500 x273 > rickand@unr.edu ------------------ Susan Sturgeon Serials Librarian Salem State College Library 352 Lafayette St. Salem, MA 01970 (978) 542-6765 susan.sturgeon@salemstate.edu Email: susan.sturgeon@salemstate.edu Salem State College