“冒牌贝克汉姆”现身美国

An imposter pretending to be soccer superstar David Beckham made a dozen crank calls to county offices to chat about charity work and drop names of celebrity friends, officials said.

County Public Information Officer Judy Hammond said the bogus Beckham also suggested bringing underprivileged kids to a practice session of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Beckham's new team.

Clerk Maria Saenz and student worker Susana Guillen, avid fans of the real Beckham, "were just jumping up and down" after the first call.

Officials realized the calls were a hoax after Department of Children and Family Services staffers grilled the caller.

"It just smacked of bogusity," department spokeswoman Louise Grasmehr said.

Representatives of Beckham confirmed he had not made the calls.

The matter was being investigated to "see if it rises to the level of some kind of offense," sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

County Chief Executive William T. Fujioka said officials were never really duped.

"We're not country bumpkins," he said. 

 

据有关官员介绍，近日，一个冒充足球巨星贝克汉姆的人给县政府办公室打了很多骚扰电话，他在电话中谈到与慈善工作有关的事，并提到一些明星朋友的名字。

县公共信息办公室职员茱迪·哈蒙德说，这个冒牌贝克汉姆还提到要带贫困儿童去小贝新加入的洛杉矶银河队进行足球训练。

职员玛丽亚·萨耶恩兹和学工苏珊娜·吉伦都是小贝的“粉丝”。两个人接到冒牌贝克汉姆的第一个电话后“高兴得上窜下跳”。

儿童与家庭服务部的工作人员对打来电话的人进行盘问后，有关官员意识到这是场恶作剧。

儿童与家庭服务部的女发言人路易斯·格拉斯莫尔说：“感觉就有点像个冒牌的。”

经贝克汉姆的经纪人证实，小贝并没有打这些电话。

警方发言人史蒂夫·惠特莫尔说，警方对这一事件进行了调查，以“确认这一事件是否到了违法的地步”。

县长威廉姆·T·藤冈说，县政府的官员们从未受过骗。

他说：“我们都不是乡巴佬，（没那么好骗）。”


crank call  :恶作剧电话；骚扰电话

dupe :deceive（欺骗；愚弄）

country bumpkin :指乡巴佬、土包子