Fear Of The Unknown

It all started on April 27th when I received a letter from a collection agency, Global Credit Collection, saying I had opened a credit card with J C Penney in 2012 and that I had not paid the bill. They were insisting that I pay $174.62. I knew I had not charged that amount. I responded with a phone call and asked for a review of where, when, and what the amount was charged. I was told by Calvin that I would receive my answer in a week. A month later I received a packet with the original $27.58 charge and the remainder of the $174.62 was interest. Calvin also said I had moved in 2012 and therefore maybe I didn't get the bill from J C Penney. I informed him that first class mail was forwarded for a year and I never received a bill.

In the meantime, I checked my records and found that I had paid the original amount with a check the same month I opened the charge. I wrote a letter to the collector on May 6th stating that he charge had been paid. I sent the check number with which I paid.

I received another notice from Global. I decided to visit the J C Penney store and speak with a manager. I was able to tell my story to a supervisor. I took a copy of the letter I had written to Global. Proof of forwarded mail where we had moved and she made notes on all of those, plus copies. She said she would speak with her manager and get back to me or I could call her in a few days. I called her after several days and she had not gotten with her manager. She would call when she got with her manager. I made several attempts to reach her and left messages. The last message I left was to let her know I would not call again as I was contacting the FL Attorney General regarding this issue.

I asked my cell phone for the number for the FL Attorney General. I got a number and called. That's when more trouble started. The phone was answered by a foreign speaking female who said she would put me through to her senior officer. This senior officer, James Jordan, a foreign speaking man,said he was in Washington, D C and I was being investigated on three charges: 

1. Suspicion of violation of U S immigration in 1989.

2. My taxes were not properly filed in 2012 and 2013 and I owed the government money.

3. I had taken a loan out and had not repaid it.

He said I was going to be arrested in 17 hours and all of my bank accounts and credit cards would be lost to me, unless I paid the amount owed for taxes,$1,286.85. I told him I never heard from the IRS about being in arrears. He assured me they had sent mail and I ignored it.

Being caught up in the moment, thinking this is a legitimate call, I offered to pay taxes with a credit card. He said that would not work because it had to be paid in cash today to avoid the arrest. Then my brain kicked in and I realized I was with a scammer. He said I should go to WallMart and get a government form. I asked for the form number and he said I should call him when I get in the parking lot with the cash.

I informed him the Federal Government did not work like that. He hung up, as I told him my daughter was on the phone.  I was trying to call her on the cell.

Paulita got the real number for the FL Attorney General. I told my story to them regarding the scam plus the Global Collection. I spent two hours filling out forms for all of this trouble.

What a mess I got myself into. I'm glad we have agencies to help us. Global is not licensed to collect in FL or in MI where they were billing me. I had just planned to relax in the pool all day. Life has surprises. Today I'm going to Verizon to find out why I got the scam number instead of the real one.