Complaint Review: Customer Affairs and Business Regulations

About a month ago I received a call from a man with a foreign accent saying I owed a debt to an internet pay day loan company and that charges were going to be filed against me if I failed to pay. The man verified my name and mailing address and last four of my SSN. He had called my cell phone and my work number. I told him I disputed owing the debt and to send me proof and I would talk to him after. He agreed but I never received proof.

            I began receiving calls again on my cell phone on April 11, 2011. The number was showing as 0000 so I did not answer, but then a call came in to my work phone just a few minutes later.  

I called the number given and talked to foreign accented people originally stated I owed a company named American PayDayLoan.com. I had returned a call to a person named Terry Brown and was transferred to a person named Alex Young. That is the one who told me I had to fax a notarized letter to him  that stated I authorized a $500.00 payment to Click payment services or I would be arrested at work and incarcerated for three days and incur massive legal fees. He said I had to attach a copy of my Drivers License or Social Security card. 

 I received the second scam call on Wednesday morning 4/13/11, I called the legal department for my employer to ask for help.   They attempted to contact these so-called debt collectors but got different company names each time. One was Washington County Law Offices and one was Customer and Business Relations when dialing the same number. The last time I called the number, the person who answered for me said Federal Credit Bureau.

The second scam attempt was from an Andy Himes. He said he was a paralegal with Customer Affairs and Business Regulations.  He said this debt was with Cash Advance USA. .  He said the debt originated in November 2010. He also threatened me with arrest and imprisonment if I failed to respond and pay. He said he was sending notice to my employer and was arresting me at work. He said I needed a criminal attorney because I was being charged with three crimes in Federal Court, one was theft by deception, and the other was federal banking violations. I didnt understand what he said the third charge was.

In every instance, these people have identified themselves with an officer title or a law title. All had thick foreign accents.

I filed the Police Report and took steps to protect or change the compromised personal information.

 Another call came in to my office on Friday April 15^th    from a man with a very foreign accent who said his name was David Brown. He said he was with the J.W. Law Group.