Carlana Rhoten said it is "extremely frustrating" to try to report scams to the proper authorities during a weekend.

She said the latest attempt to steal her identity and/or raid her credit card account occurred last weekend at her home in East Liberty. The phone rang, she answered and a recording "alerted" her that MasterCard and Visa would be raising their interest rates very soon.

The recording offered her a fixed 5 percent rate and directed her to push a number for more information.

She pushed the number.

"A male voice that sounded American came on [the line] and asked for my account number," she said. "I said I wasn't signing up and asked for the name of the company he represented. He immediately hung up."

If this happens to you, report it to your credit card company by calling the toll-free number on the back of the card. A customer service representative may say the company already knows about the scam.

And, while you're at it, ask the rep if the company is contemplating any changes in interest rates. Ask her or him to review your credit history to see if you qualify for a better interest rate. Having just done the company a favor, the rep may be more inclined than usual to help you. But, before you make the call, get out your latest bill and review it carefully.

Ms. Rhoten, 65, who owns and operates Rhoten Associates, a consulting company specializing in governmental policy, said she contacted the Post-Gazette "to spread the word about this scam."

She said she called the state police during the weekend and the woman who answered the phone gave her a number for the U. S. attorney's office. She called the number, but there was no answer -- human or otherwise.

She said she wasn't able to reach anyone at Verizon to report the call.

After she thought about it, she said she realized "it probably wasn't a local problem [because] the scammers could be dialing all over the country, working from a list of senior citizens.

"At any rate, I was just wishing the phone number could be traced and the scammers caught before they use people's credit card numbers to purchase a fortune of goods and [cause them] a mountain of aggravation trying to resolve the crime."

I called Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski who, it turned out, was driving back from Erie in a snowstorm last night. Following proper procedure ignored by far too many cell phone users, he said he would find a place to safely pull off the road and call me back.

When he did, he said Verizon customers who receive such calls can report them to the company's Unlawful Call Center at 1-800-518-5507. He said the center is open 24 hours a day, every day. "If they call that number, someone will be able to assist them," he said.

In a Post Your Problems column that appeared in Monday's paper, I wrote about a letter a reader received from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's Bureau of Driver Licensing. He thought it was an attempt to steal his identity because it asked for his Social Security number and other personal information.

It turned out to be legitimate, one of thousands of letters the department has mailed in recent months to clear up inconsistencies between the information the bureau has on motorists and information it received from the Social Security Administration. The inconsistencies usually involve a person's name, Social Security number and/or a typographical error.

Based on information provided by the department that less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the 9,514,578 Pennsylvania residents who have driver's licenses, state identification cards or both will be receiving such letters, I wrote that came to 95,145 persons.

I was wrong. The correct number is 9,514 persons.

My thanks to Bob Dickson of Shaler, the information technology director of the Ward Home for Children, a social service agency in Scott, for being the first to e-mail me about the mistake.