I got a call from these people and the gave me a fake case # and said i owed for a payday loan i got online. they said they had my file and references and all. I have never had a payday loan so i started asking questions and told them that i would file bankruptcy before i paid them and they told me that they would lock me out since it was federal and not allow me to file bankruptcy. His name was david anderson. these people do not know any of the laws and you can catch them if you ask the right questions. and if you want to end the call mention Fraud it will send them running for the hills and the fastest hang up will have seen.
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 !
Called me for the first time today, with a middle eastern accent from the Department of Financial Crimes Investigations couldn't get his name but, he asked me to confirm an address and then told me that there was an Illegal Claim out in my name. He asked me if I wanted the information and I said no and hung up. He called back three minutes later and asked if it was me I said yes and then said, I know this is fake and complete bull***t and I refuse to give you any information or money so I am going to hang up and do not call me again. But before I could finish he had hung up. Hopefully that is the end of that.
Very similar experiences to those that have already posted....Financial Crimes Investigation. Told me I was being sued and would be arrested.
I have received multiple calls from this number and today was contacted by two of my friends letting me know that they had received calls. I called the number back and was switched back and forth between people, not put on hold. When I began questioning the purpose of the calls the man I was speaking to became very agitated and told me I would be arrested - that the police would come and pick me up at work. As I continued to question, he became more agitated and eventually hung up on me.