I too, have been victimized by this so called company! I recieved a phone call from a woman with a very strong foreign accent, who offered to help me rebuild my credit with an offer of recieving a Visa card with a $5,000. Limit.
My husband has changed careers, and I have been having to support my family of 6, on wages I earn from working at McDonalds, while his new job gets established. This offer of a $5,000 Visa sounded like the answer to all of our financial problems, so like a complete idiot, I gave her all of the info she requested, which inluded my bank account number.
She then went on to tell me there would be a one time membership fee of $298. Which I could transfer from my new Visa card with a cash advance. I was then connected with a female named "Tammy Lane", who asked me a few questions, and abruptly hung up on me. After an hour or so after this call, I began to question what had happened, so I called the number I fortunately had written down during the conversation with Tammy Lane. (1-800-704-9552) I got a recorded msg telling me that all of their customer reps were busy, but if I would leave my name and number, someone would call me back. I thought it strange that on their recorded message, they didn't even state the name of their company. After 11 phone calls to their number, I finally contacted my bank, and explained that I thought I had been a victim of a phone scam, and I put a stop pay on any charge to my acct. Of $298.00.
My bank told me at that time, that a legitimate company NEVER charges amounts in zero cents... It should be $297.99, or $298.01, but never ending with zero cents! Well, on 04-11-03, sure enough, an ACH debit was posted to my bank account in the amount of $298.00! I immediately phoned my bank, and they proceeded to investigate for me... They found the charge had been submitted by "first choice tell." My bank assures me that by tomorrow, they will have the full amount returned back to my account, and are waiving any over-draft fees I will encounter.
My bank rep. Has recommended I close out my current bank account, and open a new one to prevent these scam artists from trying to get at my hard earned money again in the future, and if the money isn't returned to my account immediately, I am to file a police report against First Choice Tell., with the assistance of my bank.
Please, Please beware of this scam... They seem to prey on the people who are least likely to be able to afford this! It's like they always say... If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!!!
Thank you for this site... I plan on making copies of all of the other peoples reports of being scammed by this company, to show to my bank, in hopes that if anyone else falls like I did, the bank might be able to help before it's too late. Thank you!
S
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