I have been getting at least 1 call per month by an alleged DEA agent. The area codes vary, but the story is always the same. The fastest way I have found to relieve the stress of a hectic day is to have fun with them. I normally start laughing, and ask them "how many poor [***] actually fall victim to your scam?' When they start talking, I cut them off and demand to know how the hell they live with themselves? Some continue with the same blah blah, but usually they just hang up.
The latest was a call from Colorado, no accent at all. Last month is was from somewhere in Washington state, no accent. I can almost predict when they will be calling, as I get a phone call a day or two before from some unknown person trying to sell me rx. I regret the day 7 years ago when I ordered tramadol from an online pharmacy. On the positive side, I get to have fun with a scammer on a monthly basis!
Good luck to all and may God bless!
Same guy Thomas Harrigan called me today. I have been getting non stop calls from 980-233-8100 in NC. Yesterday they called 41 times from that number. Each time I answered and told them they had the wrong number...30 seconds after hanging up it would ring again with a different person called from the same number. So today 240-949-2585 called me and said he was Thomas Harrigan from the DEA. I told him the person he wanted was out so he left his name and number and said to have them call him back immediately as it was extremely important. So glad I found this website and that you guys are getting calls from the same idiot. I wasn't nervous because I have done nothing wrong. I wish I could block these numbers as all those calls yesterday were crazy. Next time he calls I am going to answer the phone and say "Police Department" and see if they hang up. They must be successful with some people with this fraud otherwise they wouldn't keep doing it. What a joke!!
Lets put this to rest. Its a scam pure and simple. People, please disregard and ignore anyone calling and representing themselves as a dea (or any other type of federal or law enforcement agent).
YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR. This is completely fake and NOTHING will happen to you or your family, These jerks have absolutely no power over you whatsoever unless you let them by falling for their nonsense.
If you have the gumption, try and keep them on the line as long as possible. Make-up any information they are requesting from you on the spot. Keep them talking, pretend you are scared and maybe, you will be able to obtain mailing addresses, real phone or fax numbers, or any other information you can use to assist the REAL authorities in apprehending these fools.
If you're not in the mood for any of their games, remind them that impersonating a federal officer or agent is a felony and watch how quickly they will disappear! Rest easy and think to yourself that this type of call is utter BS. Take control and tell these guys where to go!
It is very important to file an FCC complaint anytime you receive calls like this. If enough complaints are registered, eventually these calls may stop.
Below is a list of other (or perhaps the same) DEA scammers. Read through and cross-post these numbers anywhere or anytime these jerks call with a new number.
Just received call from same jerk on a Sat. First of all, what Gov agency is working or calling on a Sat. They dont want you to bee able to contact real DEA... duh! Anyway, I was scared to death I admit. My husband was not home and when he told me not to talk to anyone in order not to further my arrest, I called him on my cell phone to ask him. He also did not want me to get off the phone and actually asked me to call him from my cell phone. Just another number to harrass you with. He gave me the number 510-725-4009 to contact me on and said that I had 20 min to wire him $ 1980 via western union otherwise an officer would be at my door to arrest me.he also called from 347-637-5214 and 407-624-4536 I hope that this will save someone else from going through this.
This scam is quite polished, and it is continuing as of July, 2011,
I received a call today from a fast-talking man with a moderate hispanic accent, probably of Caribbean origin (Columbia? Dominican Republic?), although his vocabulary and delivery were very well practiced and suggested that he was an authentic DEA agent.
He began by saying that the DEA had credit card transaction records establishing that I illegally purchased hydrocodone in 2007 from an online pharmacy that was under investigation for importing drugs from the Dominican Republic. (I was aware that the DEA had pressured patients to finger online pharmacies, so I remained attentive). He then cited an official-sounding case number, and said that people who purchased from that pharmacy who were not cooperating with the government were being arrested, and that over 500 people in California were looking at prison time. However, with my cooperation, he would file papers dismissing my case. I would have to pay a fine of $1800. He then asked me if I understood what he'd said, and I said "yes".
I asked him how all of this would work. He said that he wanted to see me in his office, which he said was a government office in the harbor district of Los Angeles (I'm obscuring the exact name of the community, but this is a well-known section of Los Angeles with a major arterial street called "Gaffey"). I asked him if I had to bring the money, and he said yes. I told him that I didn't have that kind of money (actually true) and gave a sympathetic reason (also true), and he then said that the fine could be reduced with special cooperation for persons lacking any criminal history, to $450.
He then gave me an address on Gaffey Street, and he stated that yes, this was a US DOJ/DEA office (at this point, I'm thinking that I'm dealing with a corrupt DEA agent who is shaking people down based on patient records seized from some clinic somewhere). He said that he would call me back in 20 minutes, and that he would give me instructions for making payment and filling out paperwork. I asked him if I had to pay cash, and he said "yes" (this immediately confirmed him as either a scammer or a corrupt DEA agent). He said that if I did not answer his call, he would assume that I was planning to escape justice, and that a cordon of my neighborhood would be formed to ensure my arrest (another sure proof that this was a scam, because this would be bizarre waste of resources to go after what could be a legitimate pain patient!). He said that he was sure I would want to avoid this kind of public disgrace, and he was hoping for my cooperation. I said, "oh sure, I will help any way I can!"
I asked him for his name (which he had not volunteered) and he said "Thomas M. Harrigan" (a highly unusual name for an hispanic gentleman, I thought). He then gave me a web link which pointed to a photo and bio of a well-known DEA agent of that name. While I was on the computer, I asked him if he would be there when I brought the money, and he said "no" (an indicator that this was a non-government extortionist, as a corrupt DEA agent could be expected to use his person, badge, office, and color of authority to make an in-your-face demand for a payoff). I then got off the phone.
As I was sitting at the computer, I typed in a query that quickly brought me to whocallsme.com, and to this thread! I let out a nervous chuckle when I saw that the name "Harrigan" and the date "2007" here. Needless to say, although my phone rang twice in the next half hour, I did not answer it, although if I had, I would have given the caller the link to the DEA news release advising of his own extortion scam.
Please keep in mind, if you receive such a call as the foregoing described, you could be dealing with either a corrupt police official OR a private criminal or extortion gang. But you can be sure, for all kinds of reasons, that you are not listening to a legitimate investigator making a legitimate call in connection with a criminal investigation. There are so many reasons that you can be sure of this that all I can say is, if you're not sure why, you need to bone up on your grade school civics lessons, especially topics related to your right to appear before a judge or magistrate and to be found guilty of a crime before you would be assessed any fine (this is true even when you pay a traffic fine, but you can waive your right to appear in court for minor infractions). If you're college educated, you're probably also aware that your health records on file with health care providers, including online pharmacies, are protected by HIPAA, so the DEA can't use such information to establish your guilt or innocence of any crime. Further unless you intended to obtain prescription drugs by fraud, you simply have not committed any crime, regardless of how interested the DEA may be in prosecuting your health care provider.
If you get a call like this, I hope that you are suspicious enough to come to this website, but don't automatically assume you have the same scammer that I did. You could in fact be dealing with a corrupt cop, and what you need to do or not do may vary slightly in that case. In the end, though, you will not meet anyone, say anything incriminating, sigh anything, or pay anyone any money UNLESS you are doing this under the supervision of legitimate police. Get a grip, and be glad that this sort of extortion can only work if you're unreasonably scared, unusually ignorant, drug addled, or some combination of these.
I could have written this exact post. Just got off the phone with this guy and he scared me shitless. My daughter, listening to the conversation, took the phone and in a few short minutes of confrontation revealed the jerk for what he was. I was literally ready to do what he was telling me I had to do NOW, until I looked up the address he had given me, where I supposedly had to appear immediately, and found it to be a Western Union location. I'm still shaking. Thanks to all of you for your posts. They have helped being my pulse rate back down into normal range.