This message is intended for Mr. John Smith. If your not Mr. John Smith please hangup now and disregard this message. This call is from the office of Impact Mediation, a serious matter has been associated with your personal information and has been placed with our office. We need to receive a statement from either you or your attorney if you have one, today in order to resolve this matter quicky and release you from this matter. Your file number is 156689. You can reach us directly at 262-577-0298. Or you may press 0 now to reach a live operator. Thank you.
I got a call from this number on my cell phone and they didn't leave a message. When I called them back they stated they were with Impact Mediation. Just another scam.
I just received a call from this number about a payday loan that I supposedly received in 2008. The woman on the line offered me the opportunity to resolve the matter, threatening legal action if I didn't.
Total SCAMMERS! This number has been calling for a couple of days and when I answered he said they were the Attorney Network (really?) and they had the last 4 of my SSN which is disturbing. Of course they wanted me to pay back a payday loan that I never took out to avoid potential legal action. When I told them I wouldn't provide any additional information or pay any amount, he hung up.
This is a common ploy by criminals masquerading as debt collectors who are attempting to extort money from people by scaring you into believing that you will be criminally charged, go to jail, lose your driver’s license, have wages garnished, be sued, and a variety of other variations on this, all for an alleged or nonexistent debt. One of the tricks they use is to call your work place, friends, or relatives repeatedly in an attempt to shame you into paying. They also use the “process server” ruse who calls and claims he is going to serve you, but then says you could avoid it by calling another number
Federal law (FDCPA) requires them to send you a letter (US MAIL ONLY) within 5 days of their first contact that contains their name, physical address, the creditor’s name, and the amount of the alleged debt. It also must contains “mini-Miranda” telling you that it is an attempt to collect a debt and that all information will be used for those purposes. The one other important thing that this letter must also have in it is that you have a right to dispute the debt within 30 days of receipt of the letter and if you do so, all collection activity must be stopped until the debt is verified.
Read up on your rights here, get template letters to send and also make a complaint at this government site: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/
Also file a complaint with your State Attorney General's office.
List of State AG’s offices: http://consumerfraudreporting.org/stateattorneygenerallist.php
If you feel you SSN has been compromised, in addition to putting a fraud alert at the 3 credit bureaus, you may want to notify the IRS. Here is the link, fill out the proper form (probably 14039):
http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/How-Do-You-Rep ... aud-Activity%3F
They called me 4 times in a row in the past hour. When I finally answered and told them to STOP calling my phone, she became very unprofessional, rude told me "Actually you DO have two unsettled debts with us, so CALL your attorney!" Then SHE hung up.