Yes, Dear Readers, I am a Dummy.

Let me explain.

This tale began last Christmas when I put up a few decorations and got out my favorite Christmas music CDs. With apologies to Bobby Helms, there is just something about classical Christmas music that does something good for my soul.

First out of the stack was a collection of the Trapp Family’s favorite Christmas music. You remember the Trapp family. They were the real folks who lived the story that became “The Sound of Music.”

I stuck the CD into the old Bose Wave player. Instead of the dulcet tones of the French carol "Jeanette Isabella," I got a series of clicks. So, I pulled out the Trapps and stuck in a symphonic music CD and, you guessed it, got more clicks. Rats.

After spending time on the computer looking for some Bose troubleshooting tips, nothing seemed to cure the clicks. It looked like my faithful Bose had bit the dust. Double Rats.

Then a week or so ago, while I strolled through Facebook, I came upon an ad for cut-rate Bose Wave products. The ad claimed that due to overstock problems, they were offering the Bose Wave systems for just $XX.xx.

Wait a minute. My Bose system was down for the count, and it will cost a lot more than $XX.xx to repair her. So, why not give this one a try? After all, it will cost just a fraction of the price of a new Bose system on Amazon. So I pulled up the ad on the computer and clicked on the button that said: “ORDER.”

Soon, I was getting messages tracking my parcel from China. Of course, I had no idea what they said, as the characters were Chinese.

But it looked like my package was inching toward the Pacific Ocean. Soon she was flapping her wings across the sea. A few days later, I noticed it had reached Los Angeles, where it sat for a week to 10 days. Next, it looked like it hooked up with the good old U.S. Postal System and slowly inched across the states to the Great State of Maine.

Then the package tracking notice said it had arrived in Boothbay.

So, I rushed over to the harbor post office and asked for my package. The helpful postal clerk went in the back, rummaged around for a while, and said: “Here it is.” And she handed me a squishy plastic envelope that was about 6 inches square.

“I thought I would get a larger package,” I said.

“Maybe it was a scam,” she said.

Oops.

I got home, opened the plastic package, and found no Bose, just a lovely blue silk scarf. Just then on my computer an email popped up asking how I liked my order. If I had any questions, it said to click on the site’s blue box. I did, hit send and it said: “Address not found.”

Oops and double Oops.

Now it was time to do what I should have done in the first place. I asked Ms. Google to look up the topic Bose Wave scam. It answered in a flash with a warning.

Dear fans,

It has come to our attention that there are several sites posing as Bose websites that may be phishing sites. Phishing sites can look very professional but can steal your credit card and personal information.

Buy safe – shop only on Bose.com or with one of our authorized dealers. Beware of ads running from Facebook pages from companies you haven’t heard of or deals that seem too good to be true. If you are unsure if a site is an authorized dealer, just ask us and we’ll be happy to assist.

Sincerely,

Team Bose

Although it was cocktail time and time to cook dinner, I sat at the desk, grabbed the phone, pulled out the credit card, and called the help number.

A nice man answered. As I told him my tale of woe, he virtually patted me on the head, said it sounded like a scam, and asked me to hold for a minute.

When he came back, about four minutes later, he said I could dispute the charge, and he would take it off my bill. I did, and he did. He said it would be resolved in a month or so. Don’t worry about it, he said.

But of course, I am worried.

As I prepared dinner, which included an adult beverage, I thought back to my days as a young police reporter when I interviewed the grizzled cop in charge of the old Bunco Squad.

He said: "Look Kid, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

He was right then, and he is right now.

I should have listened.

Mea culpa.