My employer (the U.S. Federal Courts) held a health fair this week. Most of the vendors at the health fair were truly health-related - eye doctors doing vision screenings, breast cancer awareness reps, acupuncture reps, massage therapists, blood pressure screenings, etc.
But one of the tables was a vacation company called Imperial Majesty vacations. They were having a raffle for a free 8-day Bahamas vacation. My colleage and I each filled out an entry.
Later the same day, I got a call from Imperial Majesty Vacations saying that I had won the 8-day "Bahamas" vacation. They proceeded to tell me all about what the vacation included, which was something like 4 nights in Orlando, a 2-day cruise to Paradise Island, and 3-nights in Ft. Lauderdale. (some "Bahamas" vacation!)
The woman on the phone told me that I just needed to give them a $299 deposit for me to "secure" my free vacation. She said then they would send me my travel vouchers in the mail, and then we could take the vacation anytime in the next 18 months.
I asked her why I had to give the $299 deposit right away, and she told me some story about how otherwise they could not guarantee my vacation. I told them that I did not want to give her my credit card information over the phone until they sent me something in writing. She assured me that it was safe and secure, and that all phone calls were tape recorded for security. But she still couldn't explain to me why they needed the $299 deposit right away.
So I told her that I didn't want the vacation and to give it to someone else because there was no way I was going to give her my credit card number over the phone. I am certain that it was a scam and that I would never see any travel vouchers at all. I told my employer about it and they said that they are going to investigate it.
They truly have some nerve coming into a U.S. Courthouse and trying to scam court employees.
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