‘Wondering if you might be interested in selling your car…’

Correction, 5/24/12:This post mistakenly described the Beverly Hills Marketing effort in a way that could imply it was fraudulent. KCRW does not have any evidence of fraudulent activity and so regrets the error.

The note was stuck in the driver side door of my car. I discovered it Friday evening in the staff parking lot at Santa Monica College. My first thought was, “Wow, that woman has great penmanship.” My second: “Nice that someone thinks my cute little 2003 Miata is… cute.” But wanting to buy it? I’m not interested in selling it.

Then a visiting friend saw the note lying on top of some other papers on my kitchen counter. “We got the same exact note in Santa Monica, too. And so did some other people we know.”

When she called the number just to see who it was, she talked to someone at Beverly Hills Marketing who offered to help sell her car. (That explains “Beverly’s” unusual last name: HM.) When I called, all I got was a generic voice-mail. (I didn’t leave a message, since I didn’t want a call back.)

An Internet search of the phone number turned up another instance of the note. And another. (The site 800notes lets you enter in telemarketing numbers and such to build a database of them for others to scan.)

Turns out that nice handwriting is a marketing ploy. Of what, exactly, isn’t clear. But isn’t some person who thought your car, in particular, was so great…