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I began receiving phone calls from Steven Johnson (obviously a fake name as he had a thick Indian accent & I believe he was calling from a phone bank in India) in late June 2012. I don't answer calls from numbers I don't recognize so the calls went to voice mail. his message was that I owed money to his client & I should return his call immediately, warning me that if I didn't that there was a suit filed against my name, address & social security number & that I would be arrested & put in jail the next day. He called often, and frequently called 8-10 times in one day. When I finally did call him he told me that I owed $689 for a payday loan from cash America or something like that. I asked him to mail or e.mail the details for 9me, and he said he would once he received payment. He again stressed that if I didn't pay I would be arrested, put in jail for 60 days & with what he said I owed plus attorney's fees &court costs I was looking at a total of over $17, 000. We settled on a payment plan of $150 at that time, then 3 payments of $150 & one payment of $89. he also wanted me to fax a statement to him accepting this offer to fax number: [protected] & which I stupidly did, & gave him my debit card number, and $150 was debited to my checking account on July 30. The payment went to NAMITA Associates in Texas phone number: [protected]. After checking these telephone number I now discover that this is all a scam, & I got suckered into it, & will be meeting with my bank to block further debits from this this company, These people keep stressing that I will be arrested if I didn't pay & pressed hard for payment & I caved. I don't appreciate such pressure tactics, but should have known better. I am hoping that this outfit will be investigated, their operation closed down, and those who are here in the U.S be arrested, make restitution to those they defrauded, and sent to jail for a long, long time.
On a related matter, part of this complaint, I received several phone calls from Michelle Williams, phone number: [protected] with the exact same voice message as I received from Steven Johnson. Williams is also probably a fake name as she had the same thick Indian accent as Johnson. I have a hearing problem & have a hard time understanding people with heavy accents, so both these people were hard to understand. When I called Ms. Williams today (August 8, 2012) she gave me the same song & dance that Johnson did, threatening arrest tomorrow morning at 8:30am with the sheriff's department taking me away in handcuffs. This time, however, she said I owed $439. I asked her who I supposedly owed this money to and she refused to say. I asked her to send documentation to me, and she said she would after she received my payment. Again, she stressed that I would be arrested, taken away in hand cuffs, but also added that failure to pay would result in my credit score being reduced by 15 points. I already have lousy credit so that really didn't bother me. Then she said that if I could immediately pay $250 the debt would be fully discharged & she would send a notice to that effect to me & to the credit bureaus. I told her I didn't have that much but might be able to get it within an hour or so. I called her back about 2 hours later (4:50pm) & told her I had the money. She said I should send the payment via Western Union or Money-gram, & send it to: Person to Person, Leslie Ingram Dover zip code: 19901 & call her with the control or reference number before 6:30 pm. Starting at about 5:45 she started calling me-leaving no messages-but called 8 times within a matter of minutes. at 6;15 pm I called her, told her I was filing a complaint with both the FTC and Ohio Attorney General, to never call me again & hung up.
I don't know for sure if these are related, but both Johnson & Williams were calling from Washington DC, both had Indian accents & both used that same script/tactic threatening arrest to secure payment, and the dollar figure between the two seems about right ($689-$150 = $439). I did tell Ms Williams that I had made arrangements with Steven Johnson to make payments, but she said he was her paralegal & she had my file, and whatever arrangements I had with Johnson wasn't in my file and she had it now so it was a different situation (which is why I think they are related) fortunately this time I checked the phone number I saw that this was a scam before any money changed hands.
Again, I hope you will investigate these scams, close them down & put them in jail.
Also, although I fell for this the first time for $150.00, how should I proceed to get my money back?
Thank you
Country of complaint: United States
Address: Washington DC
Phone: 202-280-7039
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I don't have any ideas on getting your money bank - however, I received a phone call today from a "Tony Brown" at [protected]. He claimed to be with the Pennsylvania State Attorney General's office. They were looking for someone else, wanted me to get a message to this person (an employee of the company I work for), and then when I said he was terminated, the guy (also had a thick Indian accent) wanted to know how to contact him. Of course, we don't give out addresses or phone numbers, so I told him I did not know how to contact the person. He asked for my name then asked if I was on Facebook. So I asked for his supervisor. He told me he was the supervisor. I asked, "You are the supervisor? Of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office?" He again said yes. I asked for a callback number, he refused, and then I told him I was ending the conversation and hung up. I then called the Pennsylvania AG's office and told them about this person claiming to be with their office. I gave them the name he was using and the number that showed up on my caller ID. Not sure if they will follow up or not, but it's their decision. For what it's worth, reverse phone lookup also showed the number originating in Washington DC. That also matches the area code. Pennsylvania's area code is (717).
NEWSFLASH! This is the newest version of the Nigerian scam. You guys are playing too nice and perpetrating the image of the "the dumb americans." That ain't news that's a common phrase in other countries. So stop it! and stop playing nice. Get a sports horn and next time you get one of this callers just blow it into the phone. It works like magic.
I am sorry you lost money. But this case is being prosecuted currently, don't you know this? We invented google but don't use it and our ubiquitous news outlets hardly bother to tell us what is largely happening around us i.e. in other countries and sometimes in other states. No wonder they take advantage of us. I have never heard of Nigerians losing thousands of nairas to americans but it's always the other way round.
This is a scam. I hope you cancelled your debit card immediately upon realizing you've been had, on the phone before you even made time to go the bank. If you haven't and they realize you have outed them they will attempt to clean your checking acct, and you better believe it they will. Secondly stop applying for payday loans online - that's how they get all your info. Perhaps stop it all together, those are predatory lenders anyway. Thirdly, how in the world do you pay some debt you don't owe? And paying with western union was not a big enough red flag for you?