Be cautious

An Odessa woman is speaking out about an apparent phone scam that cost her $800, leading to a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

"It just makes me mad; I have worked hard all my life," Robbie Nelle Hamilton said.

Hamilton, 88, was contacted by a man calling himself Rob and offered a system of checking account security for a cost of $399 through his supposed company, Secure Life Protection. Hamilton said she used to have a similar service and felt it was time to have it again, so she authorized the payment, providing her bank account number. However, she later decided she wanted to cancel, so she followed the procedures for a refund and called a customer service number located through the bank.

Instead of a refund, she received a second debit to her account for $399 on Oct. 22.

When she called the contact number for the company, they had promised information on the service would be mailed to her, but she did not receive any. After the second debit, her bank has prohibited any future withdrawals by the company.

"Scams of this nature happen all day long, but we don't receive information from a consumer that often," Better Business Bureau of the Permian Basin president Trish Powell said. Secure Life Protection has logged 13 BBB complaints, all of which have been either unanswered by the company or remain unresolved.

Hamilton's daughter, Lori Nelson, worked to locate information on the company and report it to the Better Business Bureau. Nelson said people can look up phone numbers online to check out a company before signing up for something they think may be a scam.

"There are a lot of other people who have had the same stuff happen to them," Nelson said.

Powell said many others have been scammed by the promise of a financial security solution, government grant or health care program. Calls to the number given to Hamilton, 866-395-2019, went unreturned Friday. A message identified the company now as "Third Party Customer Service." The number appears tied to another company promoting health care discount cards, savedirectusa.com. It lists the 866 number as the contact for that company. Also, the website lists another number to cancel the SaveDirect plan, but it is not a working number.

Telemarketers have used the number for all of the scams listed by Powell, according to 800notes.com writers. People report the company being called different names as well, including CCR and Third Party Processing prior to the new name Third Party Customer Service. One writer said she was even contacted for a fraudulent identify theft protection plan.

Hamilton said others should learn from her misfortune.

"Be cautious if you don't know who a person is," Hamilton said.

WHAT TO DO

If you get scammed, do the following:

>> Contact the Better Business Bureau at 563-1880.

>> Report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission at 877-382-4357 or at www.ftc.gov.

>> Contact local authorities, such as the police. OPD: 333-3641.

>> Talk to bank or credit card officials to see what can be done to either dispute the charges or prevent more.