Obama fund raising scam?

[moc]

I just received the weirdest phone call. The guy claimed to be from Obama for America. He went through a long spiel about how there are only 47 days left until the election, how we need to elect Barack Obama, how much they appreciated my support in the past and could they count on my continued support? "Sure," I said. "What about $300?" he asked. "That's probably a little high for me right now," I said. "Well, how much are you willing to contribute," he asked. "I think I'll decide when I go to Obama's website to make the donation," I replied. "Oh, no! Don't do that!" the guy replied.

**red flag**

WTF? He's discouraging me from donating through the website? Again, wtf? I started probing this guy further. He told me he worked for an independent fund raiser hired by Obama called Donor Services Group. Since when does Obama need a fund raiser? Hasn't he been breaking all records with his internet fund raising? This guy tried to tell me that it was "faster" for them to fund raise by phone. I called bullshit on that one real fast. You mean it's faster to call millions of donors than it is to send out a broadcast email appeal? Uh-huh....

This guy claimed that by giving him my credit card, my donation would get to the Obama field workers faster than it would if I donated through the website. Uh-huh... Since when have we heard that Obama has had problems funding his field offices? This guy even acted surprised when I told him McCain doesn't even HAVE a ground game compared to Obama.

I kind of felt bad for the guy because he sounded sincere. He told me he had started working at this call job only a week ago, and that he was really just trying to help out the campaign. He was just basically reading a script given to him, so he very well may have thought he was really working for the campaign. He didn't even know about the phone banking system that can be accessed through Obama's website. I told him that if he truly is a supporter, he needs to go to Obama's website, find out what's going on in his area, and educate himself. I flat out told him I thought his fund-raising was a scam, and there was no way I was giving him my credit card number.

Any thoughts? Has anyone else gotten these phone calls? I'm planning to call my local Obama office tomorrow to check and see if this was legit.