I heard that the FTC put a stop to those asinine “car warranty” calls that we’ve been receiving regularly since 2018 or so. But it seems that there’s a new auto-dialed scam going on today and I’ve had two voicemails today that consist of a (1995-era) computer-voice:

Did I answer it?

Of course not. Voicemail.

Is it Amazon? Nope. Reminder: a company’s fraud department isn’t going to call you to discuss anything about suspicious activities.

It’s a war-dialer — an auto-dialer. The source is masquerading from an Area Code that matches my phone, and that may, for some, look legit…but I haven’t lived in that area code for about eight years. With the exception of a few known-numbers of friends, any other call is most certainly a scam.

Also, it’s something of a fringe benefit of just keeping one phone number wherever I go. I can easily recognize a scammer.

I blame myself for having something that was visible that drew their attention. I mean, somebody obviously thought that the half-empty colorful box of Kleenex and the bright orange, worn, Kong work gloves were worth breaking in for. But, honestly, brute-forcing the door has just rendered it inoperative.

I mean, sure you could have just broken the window. That would’ve been faster for you and trivially simple for me to repair. I could deal with that.

This is the second time somebody has tried to break-in/steal UPGRAYEDD and has caused moderate damage in the process.

So, now to find a shop that can open the door and repair the damage.

I honestly thought that Sears, apart from the privately-owned ‘Hometown Stores’, across the country were shuttered years ago. I didn’t expect that there would be a Sears retail store in Southcenter.

And they’re hiring?! Thinking on this, it does seem to have a Sears Hometown Store appearance.