I received a voicemail at work saying that I must call the officer back immediately or I would be arrested. I called back and a man with a heavy foriegn accent told me that I was being recorded and not to talk until he read the charges against me.
He spouted off several federal laws I had broken and told me that I was being arrested for fraud because I took out a payday loan online and closed my bank account before repaying it. He gave me a case number and then told me the only way he could help me is if I paid $820 today. He explained that this included the $300 payday loan plus court costs.
I told him I would be happy to cooperate but I did not have the money to pay today. He told me that I had better get on the phone and call family and friends. I remained calm and told him that I would like to consult an attorney instead and he became belligerent. He yelled that if I had the money for an attorney, I should have the money to pay him today.
I explained that I had made up my mind and asked him for his name and the name of the company I owed money to. He took a very long pause and stated that his name was Officer Robert Matthews and that I owed money to Midland Marketing. He then told me to wait at work and officers would be there to arrest me shortly.
Although I was fairly certain this was not accurate, I consulted a paralegal I work with and she explained to me that I could not be arrested for debt.
A few minutes later, I received a frantic call from my roomate saying an officer had called her and told her I was to be arrested and asked for my current phone number. He told her thatI had been using her name and social security number and that I was a total fraud. She took down his number and told me she only caught that his first name was Will.
I am not interested in any monetary gain for this scam but I am going to fight as hard as I can to make sure these people cannot do this to anyone else. The fact that I was scared this way and that my friend was harrassed is completely unacceptable to me.
This "bureau" crossed a line and I believe they need to be prosecuted. If this happens to you I urge to please call/write the Attorney General's office. These people need to be stopped.
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