Last Friday I recieved a phone message from a man identifying himself as Officer Jack Smith with the Department of Law and Investigations. Me believing the message to be serious promptly called back to inquire. Upon contact with Jack Smith he informed me that criminal proceedings were being held against me for failure to repay a payday loan. He said I was being charged with bank fraud, Identity theft, and theft by deception, which carries a 3 year prison term.
While I was on the phone listening to this person I began to notice some irregularities in his story. First I have never borrowed money from Cashnet.com and his accent did not match up with his name, he had a very heavy Indian accent. He said I owed 1900 dollars but after conferring with his supervisor that they would settle for 907 dollars. So I played along with him and set up a payment plan. He wanted me to fax him a notorized letter of Authorization to begin payments containing credit card information and also an apology for failing to repay my loan.
I grew very suspicious of the caller, as I couldn't verify the existence of such a company or governmment department. There is no website and the phone numbers are all over the place. When you call there is no automated answering service, not the usual experience when dealing with a legitament collection service. Some guy answers and when i asked to speak to Jack Smith he sounded just like the man who answered the phone, pretending to put me on hold, but you can still hear the background noise.
Today he called looking for his letter and first payment. I told him that my attorney has advised me not to send any money until I recieve a letter in official company letterhead, with the account #, original creditor, thier license numbers, and some way to verify the validity of the company. I told him not to call me or my employer ever again.
Upon more reflection of this experience and after discussions with my wife about it. It occured to me that these calls maybe are being rerouted over seas and that this could be some front company to raise money for terrorist activities. Given the nature of the Middle eastern or indian accents of the man calling. I reported them and turned over the information i have over to the FBI for possible terrorist activities. I encourage anyone who have been harrassed by these people to do the same.
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