Scam of the day: Cable guy

Dear Heloise: I read your column in the Los Angeles Daily News. Here’s the latest phone scam I’ve received. You might want to share this one with your readers.

I received a phone call from a man who said he worked for my cable company. He was going to give me new software for my TV and cable box as a free upgrade, but needed my account number to do that. He said that since I pay by check, the checking account number is the same as my cable account number, so he said I should get my checkbook and give him the account number. I told him that I wasn’t going to do that.

He told me if he didn’t get the account number, he’d immediately cancel all of my cable services, send a large technician to take my cable boxes and disconnect the cable from the pole, along with sending the police here to arrest me. Then he said, “Give me your account number, or you will be banned from having cable or satellite TV and the internet forever.” — John Schlank, Granada Hills, California

A FUNNY MEMORY

Dear Heloise: I read your column in the Temple Daily Telegram every day, and today’s column brought back the time I marked the difference between my pairs of black and navy shoes. This was after I had accidentally worn one of each. When I got home from work, I decided I wouldn’t make this mistake again. I got out both pairs and my white-out pen. Not thinking, I marked my black shoes with a “B,” and then marked my navy shoes with a “B” for blue!

Before it dawned on me that I had made a stupid mistake, once again, I wore a mixed pair to work. — Judy Lindemann, via email