I recieved a call from a man claiming to be from an attorney's office trying to collect from a past due debt. !st clue - they had the wrong name. 2nd clue- they had the wrong address. 3rd I never have used a payday loan. 4th they took a guess at the last four numbers of my social hoping I would correct them.
The Scam:
I was told I had a past due loan that I had not paid on from Janruary 20, 2008 in the amount of $350 from an EZ Payday loan company. They had my address as 330 Fairview Rd. I continued to question them even though all the information they gave me was incorrect. I asked how we could resolve this and was told I could pay them by debit or credit card. I asked to send them a check and he said no that I was a debit risk. I then asked if I could go directly to to supposed place I got the loan and pay them directly. He said I guess you can so I hung up at that point.
This person, Steve Brown from a Christopher M Jones office (I believe) called on June 4th about my friend. He threatened legal action against her & I if she did not call him back. I thought it is illegal for a debt collector to threaten people like this - to use a scare tactic.
I received the same call on June 4th, except that if my friend did not call him back, there will be legal action, and it will be too late to help me or her. Yep, that is a threat, I believe it is illegal.
I, too, received a message from my friend in Colorado that I needed to call a Steve Brown at the law firm. I called the so-called law firm and spoke to several men with an Indian accent. When I called the first time I was told that Steve Brown was on another job and wouldn't be until later. So I called back several hours later and he advised me that I had an outstanding payday loan in the amount of $600 and that if I didn't pay it, they would come and seize my property. While I was on the phone with this man, I went to the BBB website and did a search for both Maryland and New York for the law firm; nothing was found. So I asked Mr. Brown this, if I had an outstanding payday loan, don't you think it would be handled by a collection agency and law firm in Oklahoma? He told me that they often get referrals from other states to handle bad debts. I then told him that if I had an outstanding payday loan, don't you think it would be reported to the credit bureau. He told me that small establishments such as the one I owed money to, do not report to the credit bureau. Finally, because Mr. Brown was really starting to anger me with the personal information he had on me, I asked him that if I had an outstanding payday loan, don't you think the mortgage company would have said something about it since I was buying a home? He had nothing to say. I filed a report with the FTC and have been advised that they are checking into this.