Dear Heloise: A few days ago, a man called who claimed to be with a brokerage firm, and he tried to get my husband to invest in stocks. He said he was a friend of “Joe Smith” (name changed) and “Joe” had recommended us to him. When my husband said he’d have to discuss the purchase of stocks with his wife, the man became a little belligerent. My husband still refused even though the guy said that tomorrow this stock option would be gone. My husband hung up on him.
As it turned out, “Joe Smith” did not ask anyone to phone us. He had NOT bought any stock recently and never heard of the company that the caller claimed to represent. In other words, it was a scam. How the caller got our friend’s name is still a mystery to us, but we telephoned all our family and friends and told them the story just in case the guy called one of them. Apparently, this is a fairly new scam, so your readers need to be very careful about buying stock over the phone from a complete stranger.
— Jerri-Lynn, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Jerri-Lynn, thank you for letting my readers know about this scam.
Dear Heloise: We store a lot of items — Christmas decorations, my mother’s hope chest, winter clothing, etc. — in our attic. This past spring, while it was still cool enough, I went up there and rearranged everything into zones. Then I sat…
