Thanks, Susan.  I'd be shocked if it actually came to that -- partly
because I don't think I've said anything actionable, and partly because
the last thing these guys want is to face anyone in a courtroom.  Though
I confess to being surprised that she went to the trouble to call me
this morning -- her smartest move would have been to sit tight and be
quiet.  Ah, well.

Rick

> -----Original Message-----
> From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
> [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan E. Sturgeon
> Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 12:47 PM
> To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SERIALST] The Return of Mrs. Larson (RE: Scam alert)
>
> Rick - Keep up the good work.  I will contribute to your defense fund
> if need be.  Susan
>
>
> On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 11:59:00 -0800 Rick Anderson
> <rickand@UNR.EDU> wrote:
>
> > Hi, everyone --
> >
> > For those who might be interested in hearing the latest in the "Mrs.
> > Larson" saga: On December 17 I posted a message alerting
> readers of this
> > list to the possibility that they might receive aggressive
> phone calls
> > from a woman identifying herself only as "Mrs. Larson" and
> claiming to
> > represent a company to which the library owes money.
> >
> > The woman who calls herself "Mrs. Larson" (but refuses to
> provide her
> > full name) apparently saw that posting today and left a voicemail
> > message for me this morning.  She was very irate.   She
> claims that she
> > never told me Pentium Capital was a law firm (she now says
> that it's a
> > collection agency), and said that my posting was full of
> lies.  She also
> > says that she's going to forward my posting to the Federal Trade
> > Commission and the Better Business Bureau.  Some of the
> other things she
> > said were syntactically incoherent, but if I understood some of it
> > correctly, she did mention that she had not originally
> called on behalf
> > of the American Directory Listing Service, so be on the lookout for
> > calls from her on behalf of some other company.
> >
> > After receiving that message, I did another Google search
> to try to find
> > any trace of a company called Pentium Capital.  I still
> found nothing.
> > However, when I called "Mrs. Larson"'s phone number following our
> > conversation on 12/17 I was able to get the receptionist to
> tell me what
> > physical address I would use if I were going to send a UPS
> shipment to
> > her company, and the address she gave me was 2660 20th St.,
> Port Huron,
> > MI, 48060.  As it turns out, a company called DHL Danzas
> Air & Ocean has
> > its offices at that address.  When I called that company,
> they said that
> > they have no record of any dealings with a company called Pentium
> > Capital -- however, they do handle postal returns for a
> company called
> > (wait for it...) American Directory Listing Service.  The
> person I spoke
> > with at DHL Danzas is doing some investigation.
> >
> > By the way, the phone number that "Mrs. Larson" gave me is
> a Canadian
> > number (514-693-5171; her extension is 355).  When I called it again
> > today and tried to get the receptionist to give me the
> address of the
> > office in which she works, she refused.  When I asked her
> again to tell
> > me the names of the six companies that she says have
> offices there, she
> > told me she was "very busy" and put me on hold.
> >
> > When "Mrs. Larson" called me again today, one point on which she was
> > emphatic was that I was going to be hearing from her
> personal attorney,
> > since I have made public statements about her that she finds
> > objectionable.  I called her back and she didn't answer her
> phone, so I
> > left her a voicemail message saying that if she would give
> me her full
> > name, explain the nature of her business with my library, and
> > substantiate whatever claims she may have on our money, I
> will happily
> > and publicly retract my earlier characterization of her as
> a probable
> > scam artist.  I'll let you know if I get a response.
> >
> > Incidentally, since I sent out that posting on 12/17 I've heard from
> > several people outside the library profession who have had similar
> > dealings with "Mrs. Larson" and the companies she
> represents.  (These
> > companies do not only target libraries -- they also go after small
> > business owners.)
> >
> > ----
> > Rick Anderson
> > Dir. of Resource Acquisition
> > University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
> > (775) 784-6500 x273
> > rickand@unr.edu
>
> ------------------
> Susan Sturgeon
> Serials Librarian
> Salem State College Library
> 352 Lafayette St.
> Salem, MA 01970
> (978) 542-6765
> susan.sturgeon@salemstate.edu
>
>
>
> Email: susan.sturgeon@salemstate.edu
> Salem State College
>