news-record.com

MADISON — For the past week or so, Tanya Odell’s phone has been ringing off the hook.

More than eight times, the same Atlanta-based phone number has popped up on the caller ID at her Madison home.

Frustrated with the repeated calls, she picked up once and the harassment began.

“They are trying to sell me a catalog, and they can’t even tell me what’s in the catalog or anything,” Odell said.

“She said I had a past account of ordering from them, but she couldn’t tell me what I ordered.”

The cost of the unspecified catalog is $14.95 a month.

The company offered a rate of $4.95 a week after Odell complained about the price.

With promises to send more details later, the pushy woman on the other end asked for what she really wanted all along: Odell’s credit or debit card number.

Odell didn’t give the caller any financial information.

It’s a scam — one of the many phone scams that police hear reports of daily.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s $14.95 a month or $4.95 a day ... they usually just take the credit card information and run,” said Detective S.L. McGuire of the Greensboro Police Department.

“We don’t hear about a lot of these because people realize it’s a scam, but we hear more when people call to say these people take their money.”

McGuire advises residents to hang up or not answer. He said people should not give financial information to solicitors.

Legitimate companies won’t ask for such information in that manner, according to the N.C. Attorney General’s Office.

Odell said she wants to keep anyone else from falling prey to the scam.

“I definitely wanted to put it out there. If it is a scam, I would like for people to know it,” she said.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com