I received a call from this number. A woman identified herself as Nicole Cochran and said she works with the Criminal Investigation Dept. of Dorothy Thornton and Associates. She was calling on behalf of my sister and basically said if my sister didn't call by the end of the day (7-9-10) she would have a warrant out for her arrest. After making a phone call to someone else for help they said this person is probably just a collection agency and I shouldn't worry about it. Well, you do worry about it when these people are so sure-sounding and give you case numbers, etc.. I'm only posting this as another warning since a different phone number was listed when I Googled DT and Assoc.
Well, today my girlfriend got yet another voice mail from Dorsey Thornton with the ol' warrant thing again. It is good fun but getting a little old. Hey "lead investigator" Nicole. Why don't ya'll put your pea brains together and come up with a new schpiel. This is getting a little old, ya think?
Just got a call from this company. They left a VM w/number to call back 404-935-9487 or 404-935-9490. So I call back multiple times and finally get through. Talk to the receptionist who transfers me. I speak to a rep who asks me for a Case #. I wasn't left one on my VM so I told her that. She says, then she can't help me. Asks me for my name...does a search and says, yeah, I can't help you without a case #. For me to call back when I'm called again with a case #. What the hell is this company? I read above about debt collectors and loan collector....thing is, I don't have anything in collections. Wonder if they called me in error as this is the first time I've received one of these calls. hmmm
i got a call from that same number right fter lunch at my moms home number. the messege said that i was being charged with check fraud and that I had 24 hours to return the call. when my mom called me she was freaking out and told me that she tried calling the nimber that showed up on the caller ID 919-000-0000 and it told her that the call could not be recieved. so i called the 404 number and it went straight into a recording. please leave your name and number after the tone and we will return ur call. whaen u are done hang up or press pound..... what kind of business sends u to a messege like that that doesnt even state the name of the company? what should i do?
Don't worry about it, its just a big scam. Read the other feeds. They actually called my mother today and freaked her out. I called and talk with the Ms.Nicole. She was very rude, and would blow up like every few minutes. Has anyone notice when talking to her she always has to put you on hold? Seemed real fishy. Well I was worried when I called, but after reading all the other feeds, she can go kiss my white a**.
I got a vm yesterday from these people. They did not give the name of who they were looking for, but did say that person was being investigated for check fraud by the criminal investigations division of the epa (or possibly the eta, not real clear in the message). I did some checking with epa, and also with the only eta offices I could find, and was told that neither of them handle things like this and that if this person is calling and claiming to be an agent for their offices, its a federal and state offense and that I should report them to the FBI. I did just that, to the federal offices, Texas offices (where I live), and to the Georgia offices (where this company is located) of the FBI. They all seemed really interested and eager to take a look into all this. I even referred them to this site so that they could see all the postings from the people being threatened and by the ones who obviously work for this company. I was told by all that this will most definitely have action taken since there are multiple federal and state laws being broken.
So, with my prep work done, I called this number back and Ms Nicole Cochron answered as "agent Cochron", lie #1 and against the law. I explained to her that I had got a vm but no name was left as to who the call was meant for, she asked for the number which I gave her, and said it was for my mother, saying she has some bad checks out there, lie #2, my mother hasnt used checks for over 10 years, and also against the law because I had informed her that it was my mother she was looking for, not me, yet she still gave private information to me anyway. I then proceeded to tell her that my mother passed away a month ago, offering to fax a copy of the death certificate if she needed me to. She said no, because she could just look that information up in the state directory online...that I know of, there is no state directory where you can view someones death certificate online, so I have to wonder is the real reason she didnt want it was because she didnt want to give out any additional contact information such as fax or physical address to mail it to? She asked about who has power of attourney for my moms estate, I informed her that no one really does, since my mom didnt really have any estate to speak of anyway. Im guessing they will perhaps try to scare my family members into paying this supposed debt if I give her any of their information, so thats information she wont be getting from me. There wasnt anything much more to the call. Now just waiting to see if the calls or anything else continue from them.
Bottom line is, its illegal to claim to be anyone else you are not in order to collect a debt, especially a government official. It is also illegal to give someones personal information to anyone else without that persons written consent. It is illegal to threaten a person with jail for not paying a debt as a means to collect the debt. If a debt collector is asked via certified mail for validation of debt, they have to provide that, or stop all collection activities. If they dont, they are breaking the law and you can sue them for it. DONT PAY THEM A DIME UNLESS THEY VERIFY IN WRITING THE DEBT THEY SAY YOU OWE, AND IF THEY KEEP HARASSING YOU, REPORT THEM TO THE FBI, BBB, FTC AND ANY OTHER OFFICIALS YOU CAN...HOPEFULLY THEIR DOORS WILL BE PERMANENTLY CLOSED!