VIDALIA &8212; Jeanne Merchant knew something wasn&8217;t right from the moment she answered the telephone Tuesday morning.

&8220;He pronounced my name right on the first go,&8221; Merchant, whose first name is pronounced &8220;Genie,&8221; said. &8220;I&8217;ve never had anyone pronounce it right the first time.&8221;

From there, it didn&8217;t take her long to realize she had a scam-artist on the other end of the line.

&8220;He was too high pressure; he wouldn&8217;t give his name and he was talking kind of fast,&8221; she said. &8220;He was telling me he was with some kind of order of police or something.&8221;

Merchant said her Caller ID box showed the name and number as being unavailable.

Not that she was in any danger of giving her credit card information to a stranger over the phone.

She said she has a simple rule and gladly shared it with the community.

&8220;I don&8217;t give any charity any money over the phone; If you don&8217;t call them, don&8217;t give them your numbers, I don&8217;t care who they say they are,&8221; she said.

Concordia Parish Sheriff Randy Maxwell agreed wholeheartedly when it comes to unsolicited charity calls.

&8220;Just hang up,&8221; he said.

&8220;Most of the legitimate charities, from the Red Cross to the United Way, do their stuff by TV or by mail.&8221;

He said the only donations his department solicits are through the state sheriffs&8217; association and that the group only works through the mail.

Trooper Jeff Covington of the Louisiana State Police&8217;s Troop E, said the same goes for the troopers&8217; state association.

Merchant said she wasn&8217;t worried about herself but was afraid not everyone was as wise to the ways of scam artists as she. She called for a stop to the scams.

&8220;A rash seems to have broken out around here and we need to put some lotion on it.&8221;

Maxwell said one way to stop it is to sign up on the state do not call list. To get on the list, call

(225) 342-4404 or sign up online at the Louisiana Public Service Commission&8217;s Web site at www.lpsc.org/dncform.asp.