Rick,
You blew her chances to scam scores of libraries.  Perhaps she thought
since she hadn't intimidated you into paying for the "directory", she
could cut her losses and intimidate you into a public apology.  Faulty
logic, but ...

Tina Herman Buck
Collection and Bibliographic Services
Hennepin County Library
12601 Ridgedale Drive
Minnetonka, MN 55305-1909
phone: 952-847-8548     fax: 952-847-8642
tbuck@hclib.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Anderson [mailto:rickand@UNR.EDU]
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 3:01 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] The Return of Mrs. Larson (RE: Scam alert)

Thanks, Susan.  I'd be shocked if it actually came to that -- partly
because I don't think I've said anything actionable, and partly because
the last thing these guys want is to face anyone in a courtroom.  Though
I confess to being surprised that she went to the trouble to call me
this morning -- her smartest move would have been to sit tight and be
quiet.  Ah, well.

Rick

> -----Original Message-----
> From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
> [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan E. Sturgeon
> Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 12:47 PM
> To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SERIALST] The Return of Mrs. Larson (RE: Scam alert)
>
> 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
>