My father received a call from these people a couple weeks ago, a man, who told my father something about me being in a lot of trouble for a debt that I owe and needed to contact me right away. My father being the slick man that he is started asking questions to see how much information he could get out of him, knowing it was against the law for them to tell him. He told him that I owed $2,772.00 but would not say who I owed it to. My father took a name down of Lee Ross along with a phone number of 1-888-229-5566 ext.105 with a case number from William Scott & Associates. On Monday I picked up the message from my father at his work and proceeded to call them as I did not know of such large debt I owed. I was put on hold for ten minutes and when an unprofessional voice finally started to speak I advised that I was on lunch and was out of time. I asked who they were, how much I owed and to whom I owed it to....the man got an attitude and acted like a 13 year old. I in turn treated him like the ignorant person that he was. They called me a few times later that day and I did not answer. They left voicemails however they were deleted due to a phone issue I was having. They called me yesterday afternoon and proceeded to "try" to explain to me the situation which made NO SENSE what so ever!!!!! I tried to ask the man, whom I did not catch his name unfortunately, questions to understand it and he only got upset with me. He kept saying that I had a warrant out for my arrest for check fraud through the county. I asked what county and he said he would have to look it up. I heard him quietly say a zip code which was mine and I said the county. He agreed and said he works directly with the counties of the charges and was trying to handle mine. He was "only trying to help" me and that he "is not a collection agency" he kept repeating. The amount that I owed strangly went down to $1,800.00.... he was persistant in asking me how much I could pay that same day. I told him nothing and asked if I could set up a payment arrangment - he said that he would have to talk to the county and pt me on hold..... he then got back on the phone and I could hear him act like he wa talking to someone from the county on another phone to try to "put a hold on the warrant". He finally got on the phone and said that it was ok but it was close because the deadline was yesterday.... He put me through to a woman claiming to be in the processing center who took my credit card information along with dates for withdraws.....I thought all was ok...
Until this morning when the man that I spoke to yesterday called and acted like I didn't speak with them yesterday. I explained what we agreed on and then he said that one of the numbers on my card did not go through... I questioned it because he said I did it on purpose....I wish I did....he personally took my card information once again and hung up....it didn't sit right with me the whole day and on my way home this evening I heard on a radio station something about the FBI sending out a warning to people who are receiving calls from collectors claiming to be attornies and threatening people with getting arrested and if they have to contact their local athorities. As soon as I got home I googled William Scott and Associates and this website was the very first thing that came up. I became sick as I started reading the horror stories.... I immediately called them asked who they were, what do they do and where they were based out of. The man that answered kept asking for my name to pull up my case. I refused and hung up as he told me Atlanta, Georgia and that they were a litigation firm. I researched for a few more minutes and remembered I had given them my card number so I called the number again. He answered and said "what is that you want ma'am?" You could imagine my response.... I went off on him telling him how rude and unprofessional he was... he kept asking again for my name as I kept refusing. I asked for his supervisor and he said that they were unavailable and I might as well speak to him. We were both not giving up and he ended up hanging up on me. I must have called ten times and got three different people.... "Agent Perez, Agent Tucker and the first man that I spoke to which I did not get his name". I asked them all to speak to their supervisors and after being hung up on for probably the 15th time I called again and immediately said the call was being recorded and I was reporting them... there was silence then they hung up. I called again....."Mr. Golden" answered and proceeded as he knew that I had called several times. He said he was "the manager" and I had to clarify with him what his actual title was there..he then said "Director of Operations". I told him about the previous calls and he apologized and said he would look into it. We went over everything that had happened so far and I told him I would only deal with him from now on as everyone was else was rude. He went over the information he had of me and I found that the address they had which I updated with the woman yesterday or at least thought I did was still not updated. He updated it. I asked if he could email, fax or mail me a letter stating what the case was about and preferred email since it was fastest. He said that I would get one in the morning and to call him on his direct ext. 114 at 10am as he had a "meeting". He would also make a note in my file that he would be the only one to speak to me from now on.
We hung up..... I read more on the company and researched more websites......
The tall and short of it is this: Yes, I have debt. Alot of it. I am a 26 year old single mother who is trying to rectify my mistakes from the earlier years. Trust me I have learned my lesson and I am trying to pay my debt. When you call me and say I may be arrested if I don't pay what I owe... my son WILL eat but I may not. I will do what I have to do....Now I can take a rude person calling me wanting money but don't [***] with me or my money cause that is what puts food in my son's stomach and a roof over his head. I have since cancelled my credit card...... I will be contacting him first thing in the morning and will try to further cancell whatever they have in the system for automatic withdraws... he can accept it or not... it won't go through. I will ask for a formal letter to explain the entire "case" in detail and I will then be reporting them... If someone has toughed out my short story and gotten this far please let me know anything else that will help. For if I do end up in court over this debt I owe which at this point I am not sure if it is $1,800.00 or $2,772.00....I will want every bit of proof possible. I will also use it to do as much as I can to report them to every agency possible. If they want to play so can I...I will leave it at that!
You definitely were scammed. You can't be arrested simply for owing money because that's not a crime. I owe a LOT more in credit card debt than the alledged $2772 they claim you owe, and I'm not in jail. Even legit debt collectors can't have you arrested. They have no authority because they're not law enforcement and they're not in your state anyway.
It was smart you had your cards cancelled and you should notify your bank as well if there was any bank withdrawl payments set up.
Funny thing is that they haven't even called me to ask why their payment didn't go through.....It's one of those things that you think can't happen to you.....then it does. I did inform my bank of the entire situation and they have assured me all will be fine with the precautions I have taken.
My sister just got a call from this #. I'm out of state, relaxing on vacation...she call's me and tells me this awful tale of an "investigator" who is "trying to help keep me from being apprehended for fraud." Asking for roughly the same amount as he asked bittersweet below... c'mon, guys, most of us with debt are KEENLY aware of of every cent we owe. Those of us paying it off - even more so. If you (most likely it WON'T be you, but a relative) or a family member recieve a call like this, just say, "I am now going to call the FBI with the # you called from" and hang up. Times are tough, people will try anything. Moral of the story: Know what you owe and to whom you owe it. :)
LOCKHART WITH WILLIAM SCOTT & ASSOC. CALLED ME AT WORK TO TELL ME MY BEST FRIEND WAS WANTED FOR CHECK FRAUD AND SINCE I WAS A REFERENCE ON THE ACCOUNT THEY CONTACTED ME. SAID THERE WAS A WARRANT FOR HER ARREST AND I NEED TO PAY FOR HER 250.00 DEBT IN ORDER TO HELP HER OUT AND MYSELF SINCE I WAS REFERENCED ON THE ACCOUNT. HE OF COURSE GAVE ME A CASE # AND HE CALLED ME FROM ANOTHER PHONE # AND GAVE THIS ONE AS A CALL BACK #.
IDIOTS !!!! FIRST OF ALL IF YOU'RE NOT A SIGNER ON ANY ACCOUNT THEY LEGALLY CAN NOT TALK TO YOU ABOUT ANYTHING. OTHER THAN TO SAY THEY NEED TO SPEAK TO THE PARTY ON THE ACCOUNT. PERIOD !!!
SECONDLY, JUST BECAUSE I'M A REFERENCE FOR SOMEONE DOESN'T MAKE ME LIABLE FOR THEIR SAID DEBT. SO CALLING AND THREATENING ME IS LIKE PREACHING TO A WALL !!!!
GET A LIFE YOU SCAMMING LOSERS !!!