January 10, 2008

ValleyViewpoints

Scammers out on New Year’s Eve

Editor,
At 1:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, a young man knocked on our door. Through the glass he looked nice and presentable, so I opened it, and he introduced himself confidently as a neighbor working on a college project to earn a trip to study in London.

He showed me a handwritten list of check numbers with amounts, and pointed to one of them stating that if I could write a check for $117, he’d have what he needed to achieve his goal. On the back of the handwritten list was a document listing some magazines that seemed unrelated to the school he said he was attending.

Willing to help, but unsure of this person’s validity, I asked to see his ID and documentation from the organization he represented. He said all this info was in his book bag in his car (though he’d stated he was a neighbor), and he then presented me with a card with a handwritten name on it. I told him this wasn’t adequate, and that if he couldn’t prove who he was, I couldn’t help.

The young man was black – a fact I typically consider completely irrelevant. But, my family is not, and as my wife joined me and my 3-year-old at the door, this solicitor contested angrily that if he weren’t black, we wouldn’t be asking for ID and then made ridiculous racial accusations in reference to our home and the cars in our driveway. We explained in vain that he was being preposterous, and that skin color had nothing to do with our asking for proper ID – considering we live and work in one of the most diverse communities in the United States - but he continued to berate our “racism” as we watched him walk away down the street without stopping at any other houses.

This was an obvious scam, and this person played on our sensibilities and made unwarranted accusations, which both enraged us and made us feel vulnerable in our “safe” and diverse neighborhood. When we called the police to alert them, the response was, “Why did you open the door?” and, “What do you want us to do, sir?” I suggested they send a patrol car out to look for this person and offered to talk to them about my experience.

We never heard back from SJPD, so it seems this isn’t an important matter to them, and comparatively, maybe it isn’t. But, I think this letter should be printed to raise awareness that there are – as I explained to my 3-year-old - “bad people who look like nice people” everywhere, even at our front door in broad daylight.

The police say never open doors to strangers. I guess that will be a New Year’s resolution as well as a lesson for us. But it’s too bad - and pretty sad - that in this season of giving, in a neighborhood that embraces all cultures, we need to keep our doors shut.

B. Johnson
Almaden Resident

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