Carrie G. thought she knew who was calling recently, when she answered the phone about 11 a.m. She was sure it was her son having some fun with one of his impersonations.

"Knock it off," she told him.

But it wasn't her son.

It was a man with a heavy accent who told her she had just "won" $2.5 million. He said the money would be delivered by a UPS driver who would be accompanied by U.S. marshals and "a certified attorney to prove everything was legitimate."

After congratulating her on her "winnings," the man said she was to wire him $299 to "activate a fund to avoid paying taxes." He said she could send the money in a Mailgram from a Wal-Mart store.

She said she had no way to get a Wal-Mart. The man was incredulous. "Don't you have taxis where you live?" he asked.

Mrs. G, a 75-year-old widow whose working career included a number of years as a paralegal, told him to deduct the $299 from her "winnings" and send the rest to the Susan G. Komen Pittsburgh Race for the Cure.

She said it was apparent that the out-of-country caller didn't know anything about the annual Mother's Day event that raises money for cancer research..

"He was the most inept of the three men who called that day, but he also was the most aggressive," she said. She asked that her last name not be disclosed because she doesn't want any more calls from the man or any of his fellow crooks.

"I got a call about 2 p.m. that day from a second man and then another one about 10:15 that evening from the third man. They were very insistent and very annoying. They were convinced they could persuade me to send them $299. They even told me I won a Mercedes.

"I thought you might want to warn your readers about them," she said. "They're just con artists trying to take advantage of people, especially the elderly."

Yes, they are.

Mrs. G said the third caller was so menacing -- "He threatened to show up at my front door" -- that she called police. An officer she spoke to said the crooks had taken one local woman for $3,000.

"There is a lot of desperation in the air these days," Mrs. G said. "The climate is ripe for exploitation, especially among the vulnerable senior-citizen population."

We've said it before and we'll say it again.

If someone says you have to send money to pay some aspect of your "winnings," hang up the phone, delete the e-mail, close the front door and keep your hard-earned money to yourself.

I received one of those spelling- and grammar-challenged e-mails last week from a "Gladys B." She identified herself as a human resources officer for an "intercontinental" charity organization allegedly working with UNICEF.

"We are searching for a payment accountant officer who will receive and process payments from our donor, sponsors and clients on behave [sic] of our charity organization," she said.

"You will be entitled to a ten percentage weekly salary from our receive(d) donations, and work for two hours a day, three days in a week. [Talk about easy money!] You [sic] only duty is to receive funds payments and also distribute this funds to our various office branches and camps."

Yeah, right.

It's just another attempt to trick victims into revealing the numbers of their checking and/or savings accounts.

Wouldn't it be easier for these thieves to ask their "donors, sponsors and clients" to send the money via Mailgrams from their local Wal-Mart?

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