Awesome! I called the wireless company that the "agent" had supposedly made these calls from.Then I emailed both the DEA, FDA and gave them the wav file from the phone recording. At least we now have a voice that belongs to Special Agent Tanner. LOL!

They called me too 5-6 times in 10 minutes. It's a scam to get you go give them money. Read more from the FDA Dept of Gov:

HomeInspections, Compliance, Enforcement, and Criminal InvestigationsCriminal Investigations
Criminal Investigations
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FDA warns public of continued extortion scam by FDA impersonators

FDA NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Jan. 7, 2011

Media Inquiries: Christopher Kelly, 301-796-4676 christopher.kelly@fda.hhs.gov

Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning the public about criminals posing as FDA special agents and other law enforcement personnel as part of a continued  international extortion scam.

The criminals call the victims -- who in most cases previously purchased drugs over the Internet or via "telepharmacies" -- and identify themselves as FDA special agents or other law enforcement officials. The criminals inform the victims that purchasing drugs over the Internet or the telephone is illegal, and that law enforcement action will be pursued unless a fine or fee ranging from $100 to $250,000 is paid. Victims often also have fraudulent transactions placed against their credit cards.

The criminals always request the money be sent by wire transfer to a designated location, usually in the Dominican Republic. If victims refuse to send money, they are often threatened with a search of their property, arrest, deportation, physical harm and/or incarceration.

"Impersonating an FDA official is a violation of federal law," said Dara Corrigan, the FDA?s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. ?FDA special agents and other law enforcement officials are not authorized to impose or collect criminal fines. Only a court can take such action.?

In most instances, victims of extortion-related calls have also received telephone solicitations for additional pharmaceutical purchases from other possibly related, illegal entities located overseas. The extortionists use customer lists complete with extensive personal information provided through previous purchase transactions. These include names, addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, purchase histories and credit card account numbers.

Typically, these criminals use telephone numbers that change constantly and make it appear as though their calls originate in the United States.

No known victim has been approached in person by a law enforcement impersonator associated with this scheme.

The FDA?s Office of Criminal Investigations, with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, with the support of various U.S. Attorneys, are pursuing multiple national and international criminal investigations.

Arrests have been made and additional prosecutions are pending; however, the scheme is likely to continue. The FDA has issued similar warnings in the past:
§  FDA Warns Public of Extortion Scam by FDA Impersonators (11/12/2008)
§  FDA Warns Public of Continued Extortion Scam by FDA Impersonators (12/29/2009)

Victims of this scheme who have suffered monetary loss through the payment of funds in response to an extortion call from a person purporting to be an FDA or other law enforcement official regarding illegal pharmaceutical transactions may obtain a victim questionnaire by contacting the FDA?s Office of Criminal Investigations and clicking ?Report Suspected Criminal Activity.?

Anyone receiving a purported official document on agency letterhead may verify its authenticity by contacting that organization directly via a publicly available phone number. Additionally, all federal agencies use email addresses with a ?gov? email extension.

The FDA also reminds consumers that pharmaceutical products offered online and by telephone by sources of unknown origin can pose a substantial health risk. Products recovered during this investigation that were purchased from online or telephone sources have been found to contain trace amounts of heroin, other undisclosed and potentially harmful active pharmaceutical ingredients, or no active ingredient at all. Purchases should only be made from licensed pharmacies located in the United States. In addition to the increased risk of purchasing unsafe and ineffective drugs from Web sites operating outside the law, personal data may be compromised.

For more on unlawful drug sales on the Internet, see Protecting Yourself.

#

Questions and Answers


How did these people obtain my information?

They likely obtained the victim?s information based on a previous online or telepharmacy transaction, or from a submitted medical questionnaire. These instances could have occurred years ago, with personal information now on customer lists trafficked by these criminal groups.  These customer lists can contain tens of thousands of names and a substantial amount of self-reported data provided by consumers during previous transactions.  Typically, victims are being contacted by multiple unrelated groups, often for different purposes. (extortion, selling illegal pharmaceuticals, etc.)

How do I make the calls stop?

The extorters, just like the majority of telephone solicitors for illegal prescription medication, are based overseas and use voice over internet protocol (VOIP) telephone numbers, most commonly ?Magic Jack?.  These services provide the extorters with the flexibility to constantly change their phone numbers and select ones with U.S. area codes.  If the victims  change whatever number(s) were used to contact them, and do not engage in any additional risky pharmaceutical transactions, the threatening phone calls and associated telephone solicitations for pharmaceuticals should cease.

What proactive steps can victims take?

Individuals who purchase medication online or via tele-pharmacies are frequently victims of credit card fraud, since this is how the medication is often purchased.  Victims may want to consider alerting their applicable financial institutions to ensure that identity theft has not occurred.

Why is FDA only asking victims who have lost money to contact the agency?

The most effective way to track these criminals is to investigate the permanent record established when money transfers take place.

Have individuals been arrested?

Yes.  However, this scheme will likely not be eradicated and instead will continue to evolve.  For example, the extorters now occasionally reference other countries, such as Costa Rica, instead of the DR, as means to avoid all of the publicity regarding this scheme.

Am I going to be able to get my money back?

In almost all instances victims will not be able to recoup losses.  Multiple criminal groups employ this scheme, principally from overseas, and large monetary seizures are not anticipated.

Am I in danger?

In terms of physical danger, no victim has ever been approached in person, and the vast majority of these callers, regardless of their intent, are based overseas.  Their use of ?police-type scanners?, law enforcement language and fictitious documents are attempts at a false sense of legitimacy. Extorters also occasionally reference cars parked on a victim?s street -- information that can be obtained online at various Web sites, as a way to frighten individuals into believing the extorters are near their residence.  If an individual feels threatened for his or her personal safety, immediately contact the appropriate local enforcement agency.

Is it possible that these callers are part of some ?secret? investigative group, and FDA is just not aware of it?

No.  Law enforcement officials from both the U.S. and the Dominican Republic are pursuing these criminals.   More information regarding this scheme is available on FDA and DEA Web sites, or through online searches.  Extradition proceedings  between countries require close cooperation and often a formal treaty, and this often takes an extended period of time to complete.

http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/CriminalInvestigations/ucm239309.htm


Use the comment section to tell us more about th
Name and Address of the owner

Phone number: 202-525-7938

is located in Washington, District Of Columbia.
Its exchange 525 is managed by METROCALL.
The number is currently on switch number ALXNVABHCM8 (switch is a technical specification for phone hobbyists) .
Around 75% of people reported it as "Scammer"
You are the 1st person to search for it here. There has been a total of 4 comments left about the number.
Latest people reported the number as that of "Don Tanner and another, dea agent tanner"

Read more at http://www.whycall.me/202-525-7938.html#iqp2cauAWHXP0pk4.99

202-525-7938 -

Another Scam  - -

beware of these guys

Hi there....I received a message today from Special Agent John Tanner from the FDA however, he was Hispanic. He left me a number of 202-769-5241 ext. 2227. When I called the number it was an answering machine with a man disguising his voice as a woman. I could tell immediately that it was the same person that had called me. So far, no one has called back. What is weird to me, I just ordered the cami shaper off of the internet, and I have a feeling that he got my information some how through that order.

Got the same message today on the answering machine. Same guy-Will Ramsey with the USFDA. An 888 number. This is a total scam. If law enforcement wanted to talk to you they would show up at your house. They would never dish out  a threat of arrest over the phone and say " pay this sum of money and we will forget about it" Sounds like they try and intimidate and scare people to the point where some people will pay the money just to make them go away. I recall a new story on this same scam. Think it was ABC news.

I received this exact same call. He said his name was special agent Ramsey and he went through the whole scenario as the others. He was going to have me arrested and agents were on their way to my house. Asked if i had an international lawyer and everything. The number i called back was answered as the DEA so it really scared the life out of me, there was even radio transmissions in the back ground. He really had me going untill he started asking for money over the phone to get me out of this mess because of my lack of a criminal background. It was a sick and cruel thing to do. The number he called from was 202 525 7974. These are some disgusting human beings.

Hello...the same happened to me yesterday....he scared me to death so badly that I actually paid the first amount and then realized its a fraud....he knew everything. Did anybody reported it to a police?

Just received a phone message today stating my name is part of an "ongoing investigation" and if I did not call back a warrent would be issued for my arrest.  A Mr. Ramsey also...what the hell is this about, obviously he is doing this to many people, can't he be stopped.  Very unsettling!!

I just got a call today from John Tanner (USFDA) as well saying I am under some sort of investigation.  There was a lot of background noise and something didn't feel right.  Glad to see this is not legit.  The phone number he quoted was 423 2184954 and interestingly enough the extension was the same as above....2227.

This jerk calling himself John Tanner (USFDA) agent. He accused me of buying Viagra on line. The connection was terrible. He called back still terrible. Probably VoIP through a landline in Tennessee. I didn't give him time to explain the scam before I hung up. I understand this will lead to him asking me to send $2000.00 to an offshore account. I'm working on getting this guy caught, and I'm getting close.

Got a call from "agent Ramsey" more than a year ago and felt it was a scam so I waited for them to contact me .  Nothing. Seen a report on the news about the scam.  He had the nerve to call again.  When i called him on his scam and  he threatened me with prosecution, told me to get a lawyer. What nerve. Wish there was more to be done for people who might be intimidated by this creep. The number he left was 202-525-7974 x2127 but number on caller ID was  unknown 888-339-2215

This guy almost scared me to death saying he was from the US FDA and he was sending agents with a warrent for my arrest and a search warrent for my home and property because he had \"proof\" I had done business with \"Online Pharmacy\" they had shut down in the Dominican Republic.  Very good actor, very good sound going on in the background, had a good system set up when you called back on the number they left above.  They called you on 888-339-2215 and left the number above for you to call back on with an extension of 2127.  Thank goodness I was able to get in touch with my boss who in turn called her lawyer for me and said not to worry that it was a scam.  I could have been out $2,000!!!!!!  Please shut these people down.

Got the same scam message on my home phone. Message sounded legit but wasn't sure why they would call us. Googled "Bill Ramsey FDA" and found this forum. SCAM SCAM SCAM!!!!!

Forgot to include link to DOJ DEA Office of Diversion Control:

http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/21cfr/21usc/812.htm

Hope this helps.

Guess what? haven't heard from Spec. Agent Wm. Ramsey and it's 28 hrs later - lol.  Found something that may be of interest.  Some (or all) of you may know about this already, but these calls can be reported to the U.S.Dept of Justice,DEA, Office of Diversion. There'a no email addy, but the phone # is 1-877-792-2873 (Report Extortion Scam).They ask for as many details about these bogus calls as possible.  You do not have to identify yourself. I got a voice mail. I think that's the way it works, just reporting on voice mail. This is from their website:

"Impersonating a federal agent is a violation of federal law. The public should be aware that no DEA agent will ever contact members of the public by telephone to demand money or any other form of payment."

Apparently, once these fake agents hook you, they offer to drop any investigation or arrest warrants if "X" amount of money (a "fine") is paid via "wire transfer" to designated location, usually overseas (interesting). If people have purchased online meds using a credit card, fraudulent use of their credit cards has also been reported.

The date on the DOJ DEA document is 1/30/13, so I assume it's pretty up to date.

I called the DOJ and reported my call in detail, including the phone # the "agent" gave me. I also called the "agent's" # back, got an outgoing message identifying the agency as the FDA./DEA which went straight to voicemail, identifying the number I'd called as the FDA/DEA...whatever.  I left a message, something to the effect of "this is for Spec. Agent William "j***-off" Ramsey (apologies for the language), told him I was looking at this page online (but did not specify which page it is, to protect the privacy of anyone posting here).  Told him I'd reported him to the DOJ DEA Extortion Scam dept. and would report him and the phone # to any/all authorities I could find.  I was less than polite.

Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to make sure the info was available to anyone who wanted to use it.

Same as above except the idiot called a dental office, what a scam... lol

Same here. Agent Bill Ramsey called to harass me too. Don't bother wasting your time with these people!

Got the same message today as the people above, Wasn't home so the message was on answering mach. "Special Agent William Ramsey from FDA (or DEA, so much background noise I couldn't understand). Investigating you for certain drug purchases you've made recently...blah, blah (sounded like a boiler room). If we are not able to reach you by phone, we will issue a warrant for your arrest and you WILL be arrested."  I do take a lot of different meds, but nothing illegal or online.  He then told me "I have the Attorney General on the other line and we're talking about YOU, so give me 5 or 10 minutes and I'll call you right back."  Ok, i't's been 7 hours, no return call. I just called the # and left a msg for Spec, Agent Wm Ramsey that I was looking at this page right now and I knew he was a scammer, and if he called back, I would be the one calling the Atty. Gen. Doubt I'll hear from him again, but if I do I'll update this.

Received a harassing call from the number 202-525-7974 from a Sergeant Ramsey. He was laughing and mocking me saying there was a warrant out for my arrest for illegal purchase of drugs online, which is untrue, of course. He knew my former name, my address, and knew that I lived on a corner. It was unnerving, to say the least. This scam needs to be shut down!

I got the same message as Paula Wierschem.  I asked to speak to a supervisor and someone came on the phone that I basically could not understand.  I am being investigated also......someone needs to shut this scam down!

I was contacted by a William Ramsey, claiming to be a special agent for the FDA in conjunction with US Customs...claiming that I was under investigation for illegal exportation and importation of drugs from the Dominican Republic and there was a warrant out for my arrest. Unless, of course, I paid $2000.00 today and signed  release forms stating that I would never do this again......really? I said "come and get me", then called the Chicago Police Dept. and reported this guy...it's a SCAM!!!!!!!!!

His name is John tanner stating he is a special agent for the us FDA. When I return the call I leave a message but no one returns.  He left an ext of 2227 but there was no way to submit the ext.