A couple of years ago, “Jerry” or “Gerry” from a brokerage firm in New York called me.  You can read about it here.  I pointed out in the post that the caller ID had a bogus number and that the bogus number was a violation of FINRA rules.

So “Jerry” or “Gerry” just called me again.  He told me he was from the same firm as before.  This time the Caller ID said it was anonymous.  First he called me Mr. Dublin, then I corrected his pronunciation of my name.  Then I asked him for his last name.  He gave me a phony name.  I questioned him about his name and he told me that was the son of the firm’s founder.  I have come to believe that this was a lie as well.  I realized that this was the same guy, or someone who sounded a lot like the guy from two+ years ago.

Gerry (I’m using the G because I think that is how it might be spelled) told me that he called me a couple months ago and told me to follow Apple and that it went from some low price (I forgot the price) to 120 (that part I remembered he said).  At least he got something right.  Apple did hit 120 some time in December 2015.

I asked Gerry if he knew his Caller ID said “Anonymous”.  He sounded surprised.  He said he knew that rule 3230 requires the caller ID to be accurate.  Funny, that is what my post in November 2013 says.  Maybe I have a fan?

I then told Gerry that he was lying to me.  We didn’t speak at any time, let alone a few months ago, about Apple.  He then said I spoke with one of his associates.  I reminded him that he said that “we” spoke.  He said that’s not what he said.  Instead, he insisted that I must have something in my ears!  At that point I hung up.  But I was still curious.

So I looked up the firm’s broker roster in New York.  There is only one person who might be called “Gerry” and that is his middle name.  I won’t use his name in case that is not the person who called me.  But there is no one named Gerry or some derivative listed on the New York roster and that is the only office listed on their website.  Additionally, there are no significant owners listed on the Brokercheck with the last name he gave me.  So I am pretty sure that Gerry was not being truthful with me.

A cold-caller making things up?  I know that we are all shocked.

Gerry – please stop calling me.  You’re annoying and you don’t know who you’re dealing with when you call.

Postscript – After I posted this page, I sent a link to the Compliance Officer of the firm.  I was pretty mad.  I received a call today from the President of the firm.  He apologized.  He told me that “Gerry” was no longer with the firm and hadn’t been for several months.  He told me that “Gerry” was fired by the firm.  He told me that two years ago he personally placed my name on their do-not-call list.  I believe him.  I give him credit for calling me.  He assured me that they do not make outbound calls using an anonymous caller ID.  So I modified this post to remove any reference to the firm because I think that “Gerry” might not have been calling me from the firm.

But I do think he read my blog post.

That’s the view of one lawyer from Jupiter, Florida.  I’m Marc Dobin and you didn’t call me to tell me to buy Apple, whoever you are.