Cutter Group

I've dealt with these jerks in the past. It happens once a year and it's magical each time. It's a shame what happens when my information is sold to the highest bidder. Here are today's details:

The phone rings and shows the number for my local police department and shows the name of said department. I pick it up because of an accident I was in last month so I thought it was important. Guy comes on the line and states his name and that he's calling me about an arrest warrant that has been issued, states my current home address (public record anyway), and asks if I can come down to resolve this matter. As in come down to the police station. I said no. It's Firday and he says I'll be picked up this Monday unless I can resolve the matter before Monday by calling the National Financial Fraud Bureau. I said sure, hit me with the number I'll see what I can do but it's Friday at 5pm, there's a slim chance government employees will be "waiting for my call". I asked for his call back number and name and he gave me such. The number matched the number he called from and was in fact my local police dept.

The phone number of the place I should call, according to the police, is The National Financial Fraud Bureau @ 888-900-****. As any concerned citizen would do I looked up their information online first.

1. Typing in that phone number to Google will provide you with a tech-support line to most printers, and nothing else.

2. Looking up the National Financial Fraud Bureau will give you several results. Top result = SCAM! See attached image.

3. I called the phone number anyway to see what I would get. It's no longer used for printer tech support. Or if it is the printer people are working a side hustle!

The phone rang once and picked up by a guy that said hello and nothing else. Unusual. So playing dumb I gave him my phone number and name. He looked me up and asked me to confirm if said email address was mine. I said it was 5 years ago, it's been deleted. So he jumps into his script and tells me The Cutter Group has filed a complaint against me and that they involved Chase Bank to confirm I took funds then closed my account and then never paid back the borrowed money or fees. I asked for my bank account number and he gave it to me. Knowing these guys *** off easily I reminded him that the cutter group has been trying to get money out of me for years, why now and why the warrant? Why not the other several times they've tried collecting? He rebutted with excuses and blamed me for my situation. To break the flow in his script I said I'd happily set up monthly payments for the full amount (knowing they would never). He quickly refused and said they only take the whole amount from people that can pay their debts. EEW! So I left the conversation with, "I guess I'll have to do the jail time and figure things out." He didn't like that said just hung up.

Next step was to call Chase Bank and let them know what's going on. To make this short they confimred I had an account matching the NFFB provided information during said time frame and that my information IS in fact public information. I asked Chase Bank when the account in question was closed, they said in 2015, 3 years after the scammers said when I closed the account So there is more reason this is a scam as I had that acocunt long after scammers said I closed it. Either way Chase is sending me statemens from the month and year in question for the *** of it and thanked me for my information on the scam. They'll do nothing with it I'm sure but there's that.

Next I called my local police department back, at the number given in the very beginning. They were patient and polite and helped me understand what I'm up against. Here's the short version:

1. You can walk into ANY police station and give your name and ID and they can run a FREE warrant check for you.

2. Yes, if you have a "serious" warrant and you're there they will arrest you. Catch 22.

3. They checked to see if the guy that originally called me workes there. He is not a real person in their office.

4. According to the police, if there is a warrant out for your arrest they WILL NOT CALL YOU to tell you you have one and WILL NOT tell you the day they will do it. To quote, "We'll just surprise you with a little visit."

Things you should take away from this transaction:

1. I work in tech and know about apps and web services that can change your phone number and the name shown when calling someone. This is not new and it's free for most.

2. The National Financial Fraud Bureau is not a real place, real website or a real thing. And most places like this will not answer in one ring on a Friday at 5pm with "Hello." Nor will they hang up on you.

3. Your banking information is public information unless you bank in the Cayman Islands. In that case, you're probably NOT getting scam calls.

4. A warrant visit is always a surprise to you unless you know you've done something wrong have have received legal documents from your local court... or have recently been arrested. Then it's not a surprise!

5. A warrant will rarely be about "owing someone money" and that you need to call an 888 prefix number to resolve it.

6. Do a little digging, it'll do you good.

Be safe out there, friends.