Thank you for your research. I have been getting calls from this number and wondering who it was. I almost picked up a couple of times because it's an 808 number. Good thing I'm slow getting to the phone.
Have been receiving calls from 808-213-0252 every few days for the past 3 weeks on my cell phone. I don’t recognize the number so I never answer. When I’ve gotten a voicemail ping from them, they leave about 30-seconds worth of dead air before disconnecting the call. Red flag #1. This morning (5/25/2017) they called my home phone and my mom, who’s visiting from out of town, picked up. She said there was a pre-recorded message mentioning something about the call will be recorded for quality insurance and then some dude comes on the line and the conversation (per my mom’s recollection goes as follows:
Caller: Hello?
Mom: Hello, yes?
Caller: Who is this?
Mom: You’re the one calling, who are you?
Caller: This is Curtis.
Mom: Okay Curtis, what can I do for you?
Caller: Is (my name) there?
Mom: No, she isn’t here. Can I give her a message?
Caller: Well, where is she? (in an argumentative/pushy tone)
Mom: Why?!?
Caller: who are you?
Mom: This is her mother
Caller: Does she live with you?
Mom: why is that any of your business? What exactly are you calling for?
Caller: Bye (my name)!
Not once did this dude announce himself, what company he represents or anything – just his name “Curtis” after my mom had to ASK him for it. Of course my mom calls me at work to tell me what happened and when she gave me the number I recognized it from all the calls I’ve been getting from the same one over the past several weeks – most recently 2 days ago. I tried calling the number back from a non-traceable phone line at work and after a few rings, someone picks up. I could hear what sounded like a tv in the background and then it hangs up almost immediately. So I try again – this time the person who picks up says: “this call may be recorded for quality assurance, this is Mike, how can I help you?”. No company name or nothing. I just hung up. Did a google search for the phone number which has a Hawaii area code so I thought it was a local call. My search showed the number was linked with MCI Metro ATS. Apparently it’s a number owned by this company who operates out of Virginia. After a little more research about this company – SCAM ARTISTS! Saw several reports from people receiving calls from this company (through other phone numbers they own) telling people they owe money for everything from payday loans, bounced checks, closed credit card accounts and more and that if they don’t pay up immediately at their offer of 50% of the debt, the person will be served court papers. They use their pushy scare tactics and threats of suing to prey on consumers that don’t know any better and freely give up their credit card details to make it all go away at a “huge discount” of what they truly owe. Apparently it’s a pretty huge operation. Any reputable debt collector will immediately announce themselves (name, title and company they represent) at the start of the call and not borderline harass the person who picks up.
I’m not blocking the number – yet…just for the fact that I WANT these F#@&tards to call me back so that I can actually pick up. I hope it’s “Curtis” so I can tell him where to shove it.
Thank you for your research. I have been getting calls from this number and wondering who it was. I almost picked up a couple of times because it's an 808 number. Good thing I'm slow getting to the phone.