I received a phone call on 8/18 and on 8/19. The voice mail read 213-415-1088 from Los Angeles, CA. The vm said that I needed to call a Alex Brown and that it was very important and if I or my attorney do not contact them, action would be taken against me and 'good luck'. I called back and the person on the phone had a heavy Indian accent. I ask to speak to Alex Brown and he said that was he. Then he ask me my name and transfered me to another person. The other person said his name was Ryan Cruiz and he ask me to verify the last 4 digits of my ss#. He then proceeded to tell me to listen and he will answer my questions later. He read off 3 charges that he said I was accused of and that I owed an amount of over $5000. I ask him where were the charges coming from and he said US National Bank. I told him that I never borrowed anything from US National Bank and he said they represent about 300 internet sites and that money was deposited into my account and that it was not paid back. At this point I felt that something was seriously wrong so I told him my situation that I was unemployed and do not have this kind of money and could he give me the information to the actual creditor so that I could call and make some sort of arraingment if the bill was legit. He said he did not have the information because they had already started the legal process and that the creditor did not want the money now. It was a loss and the creditor just want me in court to pay over $5000 in fines. I said what can do to stop this process and was told that if I can pay $1495 now, this will take care of the problem. I said I do not have this kind of money right now. He then said that he was looking at my credit report and saw that I did not have any judgements and that my credit report looks okay, so he will discount the amount to $1095. I told him again that I did not have that kind of money. He said that I needed to pay at least 50 percent by the next day or I would have to pay the entire amount in court. He ask if I could borrow it from family or friends and said that he would need a credit or a debit card because they did not accept any other forms of payment. I told him I would see what I can do and that I would call back. He said that I also needed to fax an apology letter to his attention at (714) 710-4103 stating the situation I was in and that I did not want any legal action and would settle out of court.
By this time I was freaking out so I was calling around to see if I could come up with at least $547. After I calmed down a bit, I kept thinking that someting is wrong here. I entered there name on the internet and found the ripoff website and saw very similar stories.
I called back and asked to speak to Ryan again. I ask him twice, was the company he was with called US National Bank and he said yes both times. I then told him about what I saw on the internet about this company and he immediately cut me off and said that people are calling them a scam because they did not want to pay there debts. I told him that I need something in writing regarding who I was to pay the money to and why, so that I could have some record of it and that I was not giving my information over the phone to someone I did not know. He said he could not provide me with any paperwork until the money was sent then I would recevie confirmation from the court that this was settled. I asked to speak to someone who could give me more information. He said he would transfer me to his attorney. Another person got on the phone, which sounded a lot like Ryan. He had an Indian accent but also gave an american name. We talked basically about the same thing. However, what was different was that when I told him that I believe US National Bank is a scam, he said they were not from US National Bank, they are calling from US Bank and that US National Bank is a fraud and were being investigated. I told him that I had just verified the name with the other person and why did he tell me that they were US National Bank. He said he did not know and proceeded to talk about other things.By this time I had enough so I gave them a cock and bull story about how I will still work with them and give them a call later in the week.
I believe this is a scam and these people need to be stopped. I will not be sending them anything and if they call back I will tell them not to call me anymore. If they want to send someone after me, I will just wait and tell them the same thing. I did send the apology letter which I really regret now but they will not be getting any money from me unless I see some proof. I have also put a credit and identy fraud alert on my credit reports.
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