lady called asked for my wife. said she was a special investigator and there was a complaint against my wife. she left me a case number said she had 48 hours to call back. seemed a little fishy to me so I got on line and this is what I found a SCAM
this call up set my mother, My sister is at work. My Mother called me to check out the company and I got this web site. The number given to my mother to have my sister call is 1 240 -482-8348 and the ladies name was Amanda Bradley
Got one of these messages (at work no less) and it made me laugh so hard I almost peed. Forget the fact that they were harassing me about a bill I paid 10 years ago, someone should really tell these jerks that if they're going to impersonate law enforcement (a crime by the way) they should at least know what the law is. If you get one of these calls there are several tips that these calls are fraudulent:
1) Anyone with your full name and phone number can find your address (it's the Internet Age for God sakes!). Thus, they don't need to call you to let you know you're being served (and logic dictates that a Process Server wouldn't be very good at his/her job if they went around giving "head start" phone calls to everyone they had to serve).
2) It's the 21 century...there's no such thing as Debtor's Prison anymore Debt collection is a civil court matter and carries no jail time (think OJ Simpson...was found responsible for his wife's death in civil court and ordered to pay restitution to her family). Also, there's no such thing as a "felony" in civil court (the person who called me said I could be "charged with a felony in civil court and serve 1-3 years in prison").
3) Impersonating (or suggesting you are) law enforcement is illegal under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. And thanks to 9-11, it's now illegal under the Patriot Act. Call the FBI!
4) No reputable collection agency would ever risk calling you at work, or contacting your family (both of which, under some circumstances, are also illegal under FDCP Act) to collect a debt.
As is noted above, contact the Attorney General offices of your state, Maryland & Ohio report Litigation Consulting Services (or whatever their name is). I personally received a email from the FBI after filing a complaint on their web site (the LCS representative I spoke with identified himself as "Lead Detective Jack DuPree").
Without a doubt the worst thing about this scam is having to explain the situation to family and friends who may have also received a call. Point them to the ripoff report.com links listed above and let them know if they receive any more calls to inform the party that a complaint has been filed and not to call again (they usually don't). If that doesn't work hire an attorney (a quick web search revealed a few lawyers interested in go after this company pro bono). One happens to live near me so guess what I'll be doing tomorrow :)
I received a call from this phone # yesterday stating that there was a civil complaint getting ready to be filled in the county that I lived in and that I would need to appear with my lawyer regarding this with a case #. I called the above phone # back, which someone picked up the phone and didn't say who the company is or if it was a court office, just asked for my case #. I was then told it was regarding a past VISA card with Orchard Bank from 2001 that I had not paid off. I told him that yes I did pay that off. He was very rude, didn't believe me and wanted to me right then to give him the informaiton. I told him that I would need to look for this information. When I asked him to provide me information or proof that I had not paid, he told me that information would be given to me in court. He never told me the name of the company where I had called.
Got a call from Mitchell Shields, special investigator regarding our 80 year old neighbor and a "complaint # JRW7197" lodged against her. We are supposed to call her or her attorney and have one of them contact this guy regarding this matter. FAT ÇHANCE! I'm calling the attorney general-----this woman doesn't even leave her house!