Got the same phone call stating that i had to pay in order to keep out of courts about a cash advance loan. they told me to go to Walgreens to get a VanillaReloadNetwork card that costs $3.95 and put whatever money i could on it in order to stop my social security number from being blackballed.
Asked if I could just pay with debit card and they refused because of some security number on the back of this Vanilla card. Doing some research cause this sounds like harassment and smells fishy.
Please don't fall for this! It is definitely a scam. I had a couple of guys tell me I qualified for a loan and to go to Western Union and send them $250 and not only would they give me a $5000 loan, they would also give me my $250 back. Sure, yeah right.
I know this post is a little dated but the scams don't change. If it sounds just too good to be true, trust your gut instinct that it is. The reason these scammers want you to get a prepaid card is simple. Anyone see that movie 'The Call'? How they tried tracing the girl's cell phone but couldn't because it was a prepaid Tracfone? Well, the same applies here, only it can be tracked. It's just harder to get to the information that it would be if it were done on your own checking/savings account. The odds of getting caught increase when you use a reputable financial institution because they have the means and the power to investigate whereas a prepaid card company either won't have or won't 'waste' the resources to do those things for the consumer. Case in point. You can go online with T-Mobile or Verizon Wireless or AT&T and view your call logs. With MetroPCS (prepaid), they make you pay $50 per each month you want them to pull call records for you. Other than that, you don't have access to them.
Another indicator that something doesn't add up... Obviously foreign-sounding people calling you and saying your name TOTALLY wrong and then giving you a very oh-so-generic first and last name, like Edward Smith... Sam Matthews, John Smith. Even better than those, I had some Middle Eastern guy tell me his name was Andre Williams...!!! Seriously???
When they call, if you just happen to answer the phone, don't focus so much on the money aspect. Focus more on what they're asking you to do to get the money. I've even had some ask for my full social security again after I'd already entered it in their online form, or for other information they DON'T usually ask for... Good luck to all of you, and may one day we all get that 'lucky' windfall so many who don't need them seem to get! God bless!