On Monday, 3/1/10, I received a call at my company office from someone speaking with an accent who stated they were from a law firm. When the call was transferred to me I could not understand the person and the call kept breaking up. I told this to the caller and he again said something I could not understand and hung up. There was also a voice mail on my cell phone in the same accent who stated there name was Joe Myers, I'm assuming this was the same person who tried to speak with me at my office, stating that I needed to return the call because it was time sensitive and if I did not call, or have my attorney call, they would proceed with filing a law suit under the Federal Courts of CA. The last comment on the voice mail was good luck.

I returned the call (916-910-6531) and got a foreign speaking person by the name of Josh. I told him who I was and asked what the call was about. He proceeded to tell me that I had taken a cash advance and this company was trying to collect. I asked when this cash advance had taken place and the only info he would give me is that it was charged off in May 2009. He proceeded to read me what was supposedly a legal document and repeated the last 4 digits of my social security # and asked if this was correct. I started questioning this person and wanted to know when I supposedly received this $300 EFT because I would like to check my bank records to validate. He could not give me that answer and when I continued to question the validity of this call he transferred me to a person by the name of Mark Benjamin, who also spoke with an accent (middle eastern?). He proceeded to tell me that they had no other information but my SS#, bank information and email address and how else would they have this if it wasn't legitimate. I was told that if I did not agree to pay off $852.75 for the $300 cash advance, plus fees, it would be sent to the Federal Courts of CA where I would be responsible for attorneys fees of $5500 and have to go to court. I continued to ask questions in order to validate the information, but kept getting told they didn't have anymore info other than what they had told me already. We then got disconnected and when I tried to return the call it took several attempts then I was connected to "Josh" who transferred me to "Mark Benjamin". We got disconnected again, and after several tries, I was connected again with the same two people.

I agreed to pay the amount of $852.75 but could not pay all at once. Mark put me on hold and came back with an offer of 2 payments. When I said I could not do this and it would have to be smaller amounts, he said "for you I will allow 3 payments". They would consist of $300, $300 and $252.75. The way the payments are to be handled is I am to write a letter addressed to Mark Benjamin and in it include the dates of payments, my SS#, and my CC information. I am to get the letter notarized and fax it to him at 714-333-3058. This person Mark also wanted a specific date when it would be faxed. I told him I would get it together and fax to him on Friday, March 5th. In the meantime, I am trying to validate the information, I will call them back again and ask the law firm's name that they supposedly represent along with address and phone # to see what information they can give me.

I am reluctant to fax any of my personal information to someone with an unknown accent who cannot validate any information.