202-697-9849

This guy - or maybe two guys - phoned my cell phone twice last week, one day apart. I kept listening to the voice mail message this caller with a non-English-speaking accent left for me. If I might guess, he was from the area of the world where Pakistan is. He knew my name! This was the second message, word for word, (the first one was very difficult to understand!):

"Hi, this message is for (my full name). This is Officer Jack Austin from the Federal Crime Investigation Department. The nature of my call is to inform you that we have received a federal case file against your name, and your Social Security number has been listed under federal investigation. So ... we need you to reciprocate an urgent call back to us before we take any legal action against you. The number to reach us back is 202.697.9849. I do repeat, it’s 202.697.9849. Till then, have a nice day."

I am guessing he would have tried to learn my Social Security number from me. I reported it to the Federal Trade Commission.