Person with accent called and left a harsh message for a person of another name and the importance of her contacting this number or her attorney. I made the mistake of calling back and now I am afraid I have made a terrible mistake!! What should I do?
Just receiveid a call on my cell phone from this number. Man had such a strong accent I couldn't understand a lot of what he was saying. I kept asking to speak to someone I could understand. He did say he would give me number to attorney who would explain to me. I told him to have attorney contact me. He said I needed to call attorney. I told him I couldn't as I was working. Again I told h im to give me someone I could understand. He hung up.
Pretty simple approach on every phone call where they are demanding a payment: Ask them to send it to you in writing - do not accept anything less. If they don't already have your address, don't give it to them.
I've read in other forums where people actually get scared enough to send money and find out later it was a scam. NEVER EVER EVER send money if you can't verify who you are talking to and not until you have verified that the debt is valid AND that the company you are dealing with OWNS the debt. Even then, you may want to deal directly with the original company if they haven't written off the debt.
If they won't even tell you the name of the company, that should be enough of a red flag right there. These people are trained to intimidate and scare you. They are trying to get to your emotions - they know exactly what buttons to push.
One more thing - they called me on my mobile phone. I never answer a call for a number that I don't recognize. Sometimes it's legitimate. If it is and it's important, they will leave a message. I usually Google every unknown number before I even think about calling them back. If you answer, they know that it's a valid number and will keep calling. Ignoring them is the first line of defense.
This is a criminal extortion scam operating out of India. They are making the calls utilizing VOIP and the names of legitimate firms to make it appear the calls are originating from within the US. There is NO "company" or "debt" and you will NOT be arrested. They are harvesting and/or buying consumers' personal identifying information from unscrupulous websites like the one you may have filled out an application with, and you need to do whatever you can to protect yourself. This includes: Notifying the FTC: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/, placing fraud alerts with all three credit bureaus, notifying your bank and employer and letting these criminals know you are aware they are attempting to extort money for a non-existent debt and have alerted the authorities.
ABC News released an investigative report on this scam a year ago:
I received an email with this phone number. I am really scared of this. What do i do? I am living in a homeless shelter n trying to get back on my feet n take care of all my past debt. Is this legit? What do i do?
It's a scam. Do not give your information to these people. Please be leery of random phone calls or emails from foreign individuals claiming you owe them money from companies you've never heard from.