So I now work part-time. To supplement the old stipend I have started a new 'work from home' business - see www.paulcdyer.co.uk.
And yet modern life has managed to throw in a few spoilers. Here's just one:
(and I willingly admit to my own foolishness if it helps save someone else from a similar error - you may need a 'cuppa'... it's quite a story)
"One sunny Sunday afternoon (in August 2019), as I was relaxing in front of the television: thoughts straying back to my youthful days, i received a ‘Messenger’ message on my smartphone from a client of my small ‘Hearing Aid’ business/profession. It read: “Did you hear the good news? I just won £200,000.00 from the FaceBook/Powerball lottery. I see your name is on the list. You just have to choose the amount of the prize and stump up about 15% of the value. I chose £200,000.00, sent about £10,000.00 out - big risk I know, but I got my cheque within 48 hours.
I was astonished, but nevertheless suspicious. So I clicked the link “https://dhrw-facebook-random-compensation-powerball-lottery.webnode.com/claim-your-lottery/" and sure enough, there we both were.
Being well aware of the expression “if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is”, I messaged my client (we have become friends since I dispensed his hearing aids, as has frequently happened - hearing aids can change people’s lives, and the result is often an initial nervousness in spending quite a fair chunk of money but then subsequent gratitude replaces all of that concern). The man in question had frequently contacted me through this ‘messaging’ system. So I messaged back, and the quick reply did a fair bit to calm my nerves. He then replied with a contact (‘The Agent’) with whom I should get in touch to process my claim.
This required only an email to “theclaimagent001@gmail.com" and I received a friendly reply from one ‘Donovan Smiths’ who asked me to ‘message’ a ‘Gail Jeannie Hokansons’ to move this along. I did. [All of Gail’s messages are in blue.]
And so began a very drawn out ‘message’ conversation. It began with:
“WELCOME TO THE FACEBOOK/POWERBALL COMPENSATION LOTTERY OFFICIAL CLAIM AGENT PAGE”. How may I be of service?”
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