SCAM ALERT!!! Industry-wide

Not sure if I'm posting in the correct place.... and I am BKG's wife on his sign in. Anyway, here's the scam:

Brian left for Roehl orientation last night - last time I talked to him was about 9:30 while he was in bed going to sleep, having met no Roehl people other than his roommate. I had been gone over the dinner hour and during that time I had gotten 3 collect calls from a 615 area code payphone, all of which recorded on my voicemail, but didn't say who it was. I checked the internet to see where that area code was from and it was TN. When I talked to Brian before he went to bed, I asked him who we knew that would be calling collect from TN and he had no clue, so I blew it off. This morning early AM I got 3 more collect payphone calls on voicemail (I was asleep) and on end of one of them I heard "Roehl Transport" as the name the operator asked for from whoever it was. So when I saw that area code call again, I answered and accepted the charges, thinking it was important. I thought it might be his trainer trying to let Brian know where to be to start Evo 1 if they didn't send him straight from orientation.

The guy knew Brian's name, knew he was my husband, knew my name, knew he was at Roehl for orientation, knew it was his first day at Roehl orientation, knew he would have taken his driving test first thing this AM (checked with his recruiter and found that was accurate), and obviously knew our phone number. He also told me Brian had told him to call me and get this figured out so he would not be sent home and have to wait to start Evo 1. This sounded weird to me cause again, I talked to Brian last night about these calls and he knew nothing more than I did about who they would be from.

The guy wanted me to Western Union $250 for truck insurance for when Brian went out for the Evo 1 because they weren't going to send a trainee out in a new Roehl truck without it. It was also to ensure that he didn't go through all the evolutions and then quit. He said that Brian was to start Evo 1 this afternoon, which I knew was inaccurate (they don't go out until after the 3 days of orientation).

It sounded fishy -- just the fact that the caller called collect from a payphone, which Roehl has never done. Also, Brian has credit cards, and I asked why he couldn't just use that. Guy said he needed cash. I told him I needed to talk to Brian, he told me I couldn't cause he was doing his road test right now and didn't have is cell. I told the guy I would talk to Brian over lunch, which he said would be too late as he would be leaving right after lunch and if the insurance wasn't paid by then he couldn't go... this was "an emergency." I asked why he was calling from TN and he said Roehl headquarters was there -- I said I thought they were in Wisconsin... he said that was only where they did their training; I knew that wasn't true. I asked why this fee wasn't listed in all the paperwork from Roehl (you get quite a bit of info from them), he first said he didn't know what we were sent and then said it was, we must have missed it. I said I don't miss things like that. I told him I was going to get ahold of Brian and to call back later. I also said I had never used Western Union and didn't know if we could or where to do that in our small town. He said he'd find out and call me back.... don't think he will.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I called Brian's recruiter instead cause I didn't want to bug Brian during orientation, and she said they had gotten some warnings from others about this scam -- other companies are having the same problem and that some scammers are asking for $1000 -- she said $250 was low. Insurance isn't the only excuse for needing the money that the scammers give -- and she said none of these companies would call collect, call from a payphone or need cash ASAP. She also said it would have been in the paperwork -- they have no surprises like that. She said she was going to look into having a warning on the bottom of their paperwork about this kind of thing, as it is happening a lot lately.

Anyway, just wanted to let others know -- and people going to companies other than Roehl, too. From what Brian's recruiter said, it's industry-wide.

What bothers me is all the info they had on us.... and that Brian is gone.... thank God I have two strong adult boys still living at home!

AH-AH-AH!!! While I was re-reading this post, he just called back again to tell me where there was a Western Union in our town! Told him I knew he was a scammer and that I reported him to Roehl and he hung up!!!!

Thanks, Theresa