New phone scam?

[summers_off]

I recently got a phone solicitation that started with "I am [name redacted] and I have been working closely with your colleagues Prof X and Dr. Y from the basket weaving department.  They suggested you might be interested in what I am selling."

Dr. Y's moniker is distinctive, so dropping that name caught my attention.  However Dr. Y is in the pot throwing department, so I knew the caller did not "work closely" with this person.  I wonder if these scammers just go through the university directory and then pretend that they work certain faculty members as they cold call the others.

Any one else get this kind of call?

[ciao_yall]

I recently got a phone solicitation that started with "I am [name redacted] and I have been working closely with your colleagues Prof X and Dr. Y from the basket weaving department.  They suggested you might be interested in what I am selling."

Dr. Y's moniker is distinctive, so dropping that name caught my attention.  However Dr. Y is in the pot throwing department, so I knew the caller did not "work closely" with this person.  I wonder if these scammers just go through the university directory and then pretend that they work certain faculty members as they cold call the others.

Any one else get this kind of call?

Years ago I had someone pose as a colleague from a distant office trying to pump me for information about other coworkers. I knew the colleague so realized it was a fake call. I think it was a recruiter trying to get names of key people.

[apl68]

Some years ago, when I was still fairly new at my current job, I got a marketing call from a vendor who claimed to have done a lot of work with my predecessor.  I knew that she had used the vendor perhaps once, years earlier, and was not impressed.