The Lurker
Identity
The phone rang a couple of minutes ago. It was Ben from the bank.
- Ben: "Before I go on, can I just ask for your address and date of birth to make sure I'm talking to the right person?"
- Adam: "OK — but that makes me want to ask the same question. Can I call you back?"
- Ben: "Sure. The number is [a phone number]."
- Adam: "And I should ask for Ben?"
- Ben: "Uh, right now I think Nola and [some other name I've forgotten already] are answering the phones."
- Adam: "okthxbye" *click*
Of course just after I hang up I realise that all this paranoia is worth nothing if I couldn't verify that the phone number belongs to the organisation he claimed to represent. Reverse telephone directories aren't all that accessible, and Google turned up nothing. Luckily I had a letter lying around from them that had the right phone number, which wasn't the same number that you use when you normally contact the bank. So I called back and Nola answered, and it turns out that I actually had forgotten to pay a bill I've misplaced, and all is well once again.
Meanwhile, I can't help but wonder how many names, addresses and dates of birth you could compile by making a call like Ben's.
All timestamps are Melbourne time.