I was already in a grouchy mood when my phone rang Saturday afternoon. I was planting roses in front of the new deck. The soil here isn't soil at all - it's clay. So planting was far beyond digging a hole and dropping in the plant. It involved digging a large hole in the clay for each rose, filling the holes with gardening mix, planting the roses, cutting and placing a weed blocking fabric over the bed and then putting mulch over the top. Then there was the issue of dealing with several cubic feet of messy clay once the job was done.

A new problem emerged when I was trying to plant the second bush. In retrospect, it was actually a horde of very small problems. As I reached into the planter to remove the plant, I discovered that with our purchase, we also received a free fire ant farm. How educational. Taught me to go dig up my work gloves and wear them. It was at this point that the phone rang.

Answering the phone revealed a collect call from the Harris County Jail. Turning it down did cross my mind, but what if it was someone I knew who needed my help? I accepted the call. It was Michael. He wanted to talk to Shelia. I have no idea who Michael or Shelia are, but that's ok. He asked me if I could call her for him because she was at work and her number required a prefix and he couldn't call her from there. He added that this was his only phone call.

I was fairly suspicious because when I asked him what number he was trying to call, he gave my number. He did not dial the wrong number but instead intentionally called me. I asked for his mother's number and he gave it to me: 72 # 713 - XXX - XXXX. I asked why the prefix was required and he just said that it was. I said I would try the number and hung up. Then I went back into the front yard to continue my work.

The Queen (May She Live Forever) asked what that was all about and I explained it to her. She asked if I was going to call the number and I told her that I might, but first I was going to look on the net because it felt like a scam. She took the initiative of looking herself and found this: Deputies reveal jail phone scam.

It would seem that dialing 72# would forward my number to the one he wanted me to call. Then he could make collect calls to me, which would bounce to the other number. The party answering that number would then accept the charges on my behalf, as they would be billed to my number. Needless to say, I never did make that phone call for my friend Michael. If you ever receive such a call, I would recommend not obliging either.

Sad. Many people are willing to offer assistance to those in need. A few have no qualms about taking advantage of that offer, ruining everything for those truly in need. (A group the offender may find himself or herself in in at some point.)