harrassment.
Complaint
Laura Lowery
Country: United States
They called me from 213-986-7612 and stated I took out a online cash advance. They claimed there was money put in my acccout on 1/2/2011. I informed them they were mistaken they hung up the phone and would no longer take my calls. They should be monitored for their behavior.
Comments
They may even have information like old account numbers, SSN, DOB, relatives or employers, possibly from pulling credit reports or through skip-trace searches, or sometimes phony on-line payday loan sites, but the alleged debts are entirely phony, or if real, not owed to these crooks.
They are liars.
File a complaint with the FBI, and if they keep calling, record them and tell them the call is being recorded as evidence. If they have any brains, they will move on when they know you won't be conned.
Warning from the Illinois Attorney General:
http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2010_08/20100825.html
Warn your friends and co-workers about this scam, so that they don't get conned.
Since they are probably running this scam from overseas, suing them is probably impractical.
They are, however, vulnerable at two points:
1) Their phone provider. They may be using VoIP, but most likely use the same carrier even though they may change phone numbers frequently.
2) Their method of getting the money transferred.
If the scam got that far, how did they say payment should be sent?
Western Union?
MoneyGram?
Other?
If they keep calling, you might try fishing for that information.
If they are demanding payment by Western Union or MoneyGram, contact FTC to report that, and demand that these money transfer agents post warnings against this particular scam to protect others. MoneyGram is subject to a consent agreement to warn consumers against fraud, due to involvement by its agents in earlier fraudulent schemes.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/02/acc.shtm
"...
For Release: 02/21/2012
Court Halts Alleged Fake Debt Collector Calls from India, Grants FTC Request to Stop Defendants Who Often Posed as Law Enforcement
At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court has halted an operation that the FTC alleges collected phantom payday loan “debts” that consumers did not owe. Consumers received millions of collection calls from India, and that since January 2010 the operation took in more than $5 million from victims, according to the FTC.
..."
If you are being harassed by this type of scam, contact FTC.