SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio consumers are speaking out about people trying to scam them by using Schwan's food delivery service and Generations Federal Credit Union.
Sharada Sanchez has been a happy customer of Schwan's, but recently she got a call about a Schwan's bill.
"They said, 'Oh, well, you have this debt with Schwan's,'" Sanchez said. "(So I said,) 'I haven't ordered from Schwan's recently. It's been a couple of weeks at least and I've paid cash each time I've ordered.'"
She said the caller threatened to have her arrested if she did not pay an amount they did not reveal.
"So I called back and I said, 'Look, I need to find out ... how much do I owe?' They hung up on me."
She confirmed with Schwan's that she did not owe any money, then asked the KSAT 12 Defenders to expose the company calling her: Central Asset Bureau.
Sanchez said the company's office is in an eight-story building on NW Loop 410 and that the internet is full of complaints about it.
One person posting on the internet wrote that "the company appears to be a scam."
Another writes "Do not give them any information… (or) money."
The Defenders called the number listed for the company but no one answered. And there was no company in the building by that name, according to Andrea McPartlin, of Abby Executive Suites.
"No Central Asset Bureau," McPartlin said. "We've gotten a piece of mail or two and maybe a client came up once."
And she is not happy the company is giving this address out to customers.
Sharada Sanchez wants to warn others about this company and any other companies calling and wanting money.
"If they call enough people, at least one of those people is going to say, 'Oh my God, I don't want to go to jail,'" Sanchez said.
Chuck Blomberg, communication manager for Schwan's, sent this response to the Defenders' questions via email:
"We are familiar with this matter. The person who contacted our customer in this incident has absolutely no affiliation with our company. We have conducted our own investigation, and this appears to be a scam. We commend Ms. Sanchez for standing up to this behavior and taking appropriate action.
"The use of our company's name in this incident was without authorization. This is rare, but it does happen occasionally."
Another local scam recently targeted customers of Generations Federal Credit Union, but were sent randomly even to people who were not customers. They got text messages on their cell phones saying, "Dear Generations F.C.U. member, we had to lock your account. Click (this website) to unlock."
Michelle Cox got that message and said at first it looked legitimate. Then she went to the credit union's website and saw a member alert about a "Robo-dial scam."
It warned customers that people were "Phishing for Answers" by randomly sending thousands of texts. And it warned them not to use the contact information or the link.
Cox was angry. "How dare these people," Cox said. "I mean just the audacity of them to try so blatantly to steal your information."
She said scammers are getting more sophisticated so people need to take extra precautions to protect their sensitive information.
For a list of recent stories Brian Mylar has done, click here.