I had a woman with an Indian accent call my cell phone and my work phone. The number comes up as "Emergency Call" on my cell phone and as "Unknown Number." She left a voicemail on both phones saying that she was Deputy Watson and that I would be charged with fraud if I did not call her back at the number 1-904-436-9050 and that I'd be arrested by the state police. Also, they didn't give a company name. I looked up this number and it is a land line number in Jacksonville, FL. I had similar calls a few years ago. I'm so sick of these calls. Not sure what I should do about them.
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 in June. The FTC has indicted one of its ringleaders for criminal fraud:
You know I am so sick of these frad calls and nobody seen to be able to stop these people from calling so please tell me how we can stop these forners from calling people and getting us so upset and scares. I recieved call from a Officer Sharon Gibson for a complaint on fraud and if I don't return their call I will be aressted with in 2 hours. PLEASE HELP AND FIND A WAY TO STOP THEM I know we all are getting tired of this crap. her number is 904- 436-9050