A man with a heavy Indian or Middle Eastern accent called me at my work number identifying himself as a federal officer from the Department of Law and Investigation. He advised me that a claim had been filed against me as a result of my taking out a payday loan online and not paying it. He told me to get a pen and write down my case # of CFI50781, which I did. I asked him what company was this loan from because I knew I had not taken out any loans. He said the lender was Cash Net Marketing and that company had well over 200 subsidiaries. He then put another gentleman on the phone who again began to recite the same information the fist man had given me. He gave me a phone number of 518-533-5340 which traces back to upstate New York. I asked for his name and he advised me David. I then inquired on how they could verify that I was the individual that had recieved the funds for the loan. He then recited my social security number to me which to my shock and suprise was correct. He said that they had traced through my isp my ip address and my e-mail address which he also recited. I advised him that a person could steal this information from online which is common these days. He firmly advised me that I was the person and that they would not have my personal information if I was not. I asked him if he had my banking account information. At this point he advised me to have my attorney contact him by the end of the day or else he would send officers to my home and place of employment to arrest me. I asked him to fax me documentation showing that I had received funds from this company. He advised me that he could not send me anything, but could fax it to my attorney once he called him. I advised him to go ahead and send the officers because I would be more than willing to speak with them about this issue. He then hung up the phone. I called back the number he provided me with and he answered. The background sounded like the inside of a call center. I filed a report with my local police department immediately after that. I will be contacting the credit bureaus and the FTC also. I believe that this company may have obtained my information through a completely different website that I entered my information on and that they either stole it or it was given to them by the other company.
People - even the companies that you may have accounts with may sell or give your information away to third parties. It is convenient to take care of business online but also dangerous. Beware.
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