A resident of Kiryat Motzkin received a phone call from a man who identified himself as a representative of the Israel Post, who asked her to pay NIS 11.90 for a courier. Shortly afterwards, she received a message from the credit card company that purchases worth NIS 13,500 had been made on her card. “I felt very humiliated, I blamed myself,” she said.
The sting exercise took place about two weeks ago, so a person who introduced himself as a representative of the Israel Post called Rina (pseudonym). “At nine o’clock in the morning I got a call to the home line. A young man spoke and claimed to be a representative of the post office. He said he had returned a registered mail item I had received from Social Security,” she said. “He said that I had three options for receiving the letter – to go to a post office in Tel Aviv, to have it sent to the nearest branch, or alternatively to have it sent to me by courier to the house at a cost of NIS 11.90.”
Rina, 62, who was waiting for a letter from the Social Security, gave him the details, and immediately felt, she said, that she had made a mistake. “He called me by name and sounded very reliable and I was really waiting for a letter from Social Security, so I gave him the details. Already during the call I told him with half a laugh, ‘I hope you do not sting me.’ He said no, what suddenly. In a few minutes they will send you a message With the details of the shipment, “she said.
Indeed, an hour later she received a message, but not from the post office, but from Isracard. “They called me from the credit company, and told me that an attempt had been made to debit the account of NIS 3,500 and the card was blocked,” she said. “NIS 6,000 and fruits and vegetables. I turned to all the businesses and asked them to stop the deliveries. He ordered one delivery to Nahariya and one to Kiryat Bialik.”
The business owners canceled the supply of the products, but the sting did not give up. “He called one of the stores and asked why they had not sent him the product. The store owner told him that the card was registered in my name, and he told him that I was his wife and I was not at home,” she said.
Following the incident, Rina filed a complaint with the police. “I believe he will not stop there. It is important that others know and be careful. I felt humiliated, I blamed myself,” she said.
The Zebulon police said: “This is a complaint received on June 1, 2002. After investigating, the case was closed on the grounds of an unknown offender.”