Starting about three years ago I started to receive calls randomly from persons claiming to be federal agents of the U.S. Government. They even went so far as to call friends and family I had used as references for other purposes at legitimate businesses. The first time the call themselves the "FBI" and identified himself as Agent so n' so (I do not recall the exact name he used, but it was an English sounding name.) He spoke with a thick Indian accent and told me that he was calling regarding a loan that I had taken out but failed to repay. He then told me that if I did not arrange to get money to him that I would be prosecuted, and arrested. At this point I was suspicious, but not sure if this was for real or not. I told him that I would have to get back to him and he gave me a number to reach him at (the number turned out to be from an area code in Washington state, even though he said he was in Washington DC.)
When I got off the phone with him I got a call from my friend, who told me he had gotten a call from an F.B. I agent that was asking for my contacted information. At this point I called the F.B. I field office in San Diego, the closest on to me. I told them of the call I received and gave them the number he gave me, thats when the told me it was from a number in Washington state and directed me to the Seattle field office. I called them, explained the situation, and spoke with an agent there who told me that the caller was not a federal agent, and that there was no open investigation pending on me. She said it may be a debt collector using scare tactics illegally to collect a debt, and I did have some unpaid debt at the time. She recommended that I contact my state attorney general's office and also the Consumer Protection Agency. I did both and filed reports with both (at this point the scam was not know to either agency). I received another call from the fake caller that day, I informed him that he was full of it and that what he was doing was illegal and demanded that he stop calling me and for awhile he did.
Fast forward 2 years, and I am at a new apartment. I get a call from an Indian gentlemen again claiming to be a federal agent, this time the department of justice, and calls himself officer. Knowing now that this is a scam, as I had since paid off all debt that I had at the time of the last call, I told him to stuff it and that I knew he was not an officer of any kind I then hung up. He called me back right away and began to scream at me that I was going to jail, and that he was a federal agent and would arrest me if I did not pay him. I hung up again and called the consumer Protection Agency, who informed me that they where aware of the scam and took my report, they also advised that I file a police report for harassing phone calls with the local police. I called the local sheriffs department who dispatched two deputies out to take a report. When they arrived they where very nice, but said there was not much they could do as the call most likely came from outside the United States. He did however call the number on my caller ID from when the guy called. He answered the phone Department of Justice. The officer played along trying to get information out of the guy about his whereabouts and when he asked why he wanted to know where he was the officer replied " So I can come and arrest you" at which point he hung up. I have not heard from them since.
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