This loser just called me on my cell while I was at work. The number he called from was +052797982, told me his name was Officer David Anderson with the Department of Financial Crimes Investigations (that doesn't even SOUND real) I told him he had the wrong number and we hung up. A few minutes later my sister called me letting me know some guy called her and told her he needs to get in touch with me over a very important legal matter. He had mine, my sister and my dads names. I told her the next time he calls to say she has contacted the FBI about this scam. Anyway, when I hung up with her I had a voicemail from the same person! He left a different number for me to call back, the 206-855-5352. I called back to [***] him out but nobody answered. The voicemail beep went off and I just made a fart noise and hung up! What an idiot!
They called me today ( 2/11/2010 ) Had all of my banking and personal information, said they were from Financial Crimes Investigations, and actually said they were federal agents. I asked them exactly when our federal government started calling people.......they had no answer but dared me to call them back at 206-855-5352 if I did not believe they were legitimate. When I further questioned them, I was told that " within two hours, someone would be at my house to out me into a car and take me somewhere to further discuss this matter". I informed them that they had just threatened me with kidnapping and that ANYONE who came to my house and tried to put me into ANY vehicle would be missing body parts. It was then that the " gentleman" informed me he was sending someone over to arrest me.
Long story short , they scared the crap out of me - said that I was being charged with 3 federal crimes, violation of federal banking procedures,collateral check fraud and theft by deception. They said that I had received a payday loan advance through EFT ( electronic check transfer ) that had never been paid and that the company had filed charges against me. Here's the part that scared me : about a year ago my ex and I were having major financial problems and I DID research ( online ) payday advance loans. I DID fill out an application for such a loan on a supposed SECURE site , however the return rate on the " payday " loan was so high, I canceled the transaction and never thought about it again ..... until today.
So today, after their call, I spent hours on the phone with Bank of America making sure that all of my accounts were protected and asking for their direction. The scary part - these people have my social security number, the # to one of my bank accounts, the $ amount of the payday loan I inquired about and my contact information. They had to have somehow accessed the payday loan application when I inquired. Bank of America strongly suggested, after securing all of my bank accounts, that I call Transunion and let them know that I had been a victim of identity theft . All 3 credit reporting agencies have to work together on this kind of thing and when something like this happens, they closely monitor the person's credit report for unusual activity/ identity theft.
The rep at Bank of America also strongly suggested that I file a police report as I was threatened. I do plan on doing so, although I doubt they can actually find these people. I have a feeling the phone number is a skye - type number, which means they could be anywhere in the world and fairly difficult to find. I spoke with several different people during their initial call and all had heavy, heavy middle eastern accents.
Moral of the story ? Protect yourself - if they're calling you, they may have your personal info. Contact your financial institution to secure your accounts and one of the credit bureaus to protect your credit and identity. Feel free to copy the info I've given if it will help and good luck to you !
I just got a call from 206-855-5352 - they stated they were looking for me and said i have a legal matter and a bank theft um ok and a criminal matter that needs to be dealt with i could not even understand what he was saying for his accent is so heavy - thank you for posting these to make me aware that it is indeed a scam! they have all of my family's info as well! How are they getting it?
I got called by this number at work. He said that he was a collection agency and that I had an outstanding loan with a company I never herd of. They also threaten saying if I didn't pay I would go to jail.
SO Thursday I received a call from +052797982 and 1-206-855-5352. It was Officer William Johnson from Financial Crime Investigations. I advised the gentlemen that I need a claim number, where he was located, and a number to call him back. Then he stated I would go to jail, never find another job because employers dont like criminals. I advised him he would be contacted by my attorney and hung up. This same thing happened over a year ago and they just change the number.