Just received a call from this number today - I didnt pick up as it was an out of area number. They left a very harassing message about criminal charges & identified themselves as "law office of legal mediation" & even left a message on my fathers phone with the same message looking for me. THIS IS ILLEGAL. I had a similar issue last year and had contacted the Attorney State General - without calling these scumbags back I've already logged a complaint. There are no signs of a legit company or law office affiliated with this phone number, & appears that other scammers used this same phone number claiming to be law firms as well, Benson, Fuller, & assoc. & JW Marshall. Again, no information can be found on the web. I pay all my bills and dont have any payday loans & have never done anything illegal, this one is a scam....I'm letting the attorney general handle this one
It is incumbent upon them to prove that the debt exists and that you owe it. Not the other way around.
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
Yes it is a scam. They give you all this BS about court dates, warrants being issued, going to jail, etc. DO NOT FALL VICTIM TO THEM. I called back, honestly being concerned about possible identity theft, and got the run around. Never answered for a week straight after leaving several messages. Finally got a call from "Thomas Dunne" and was told I had hot checks from 5 years ago. I have never in my life owned any checks nor have used any. He gave amount owed, including attorney fees, and asked for my debit card number. I hung up immediately. Called back 3 minutes later and a lady answered. I asked her for a website address so I could check them out. She asked why so I told her I thought it was a scam, she then told me to either pay today or quote "sit my [***] in jail". Really?!! Get a real job and life scammers!