Harris and Associates. Most likely debt Collectors. Act like they are a law office. Lady I talked to was very combative. Would not give me any information. Talks over you. Won't really give out any information. Claim to be in Los Angeles, but the person did not give me an address. Don't know where they are really located. Something called "Harris and Associates" or some sort of variation has a history of debt scamming on 800notes.
Just because someone on the phone calling you says you owe a debt does not mean you actually owe it.
If a voice on the telephone claims you owe a debt:
1. Demand the person give you his or her name, company name, and address
2. Demand a debt validation letter by US mail. E-mail no good.
3. Do not pay the collection agent or anyone else a dime until the debt is validated
Of course they won’t do this, no scammer ever will, so simply ignore them and block their calls.
If they are bothering you, report them:
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0149-debt-collection (Threatening civil proceedings with no intent to follow through, or threatening criminal process in order to collect a civil debt is a violation of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.)
Also contact your local attorney general
If they continue to bother you, and you know you do not owe any money, tell them that you know this is a debt scam and that you are making a complaint to the police for extortion. Once you get a copy of the police report and they call you again , just read out the file number and the name of the PD or Sheriff’s office involved. Tell them you’ll be glad to send a copy to them at whatever address the jack***es are working out of now.
You'll probably have to yell at them and talk over them. Tell 'em no scammy debt collector is going to push you around.
You have to get tuff with these people because, being akin to thugs, brute force is (metaphorically speaking). the only thing they understand.
Investigator Diana ..(she purposefully paused to not give her last name).. called me in TX from a CA number stating that I was listed as an emergency contact for my mother.. that two local complaints have been filed against her and it would be in her best legal interest to contact Diana immediately.
Can't confirm, but I'm pretty sure this is a head-hunter.
Is it illegal to call someone's emergency contact under false pretenses?
Did you know it is illegal to discuss mom's matters with a third party (you)? If a summons was actually coming, you would not be warned. Give your state attorney general's office a call.
They call family, friends, and neighbors to create panic and embarrassment so that their intended victim calls them and they can scare that person into paying their extortion money.
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
Harris and Associates. Most likely debt Collectors. Act like they are a law office. Lady I talked to was very combative. Would not give me any information. Talks over you. Won't really give out any information. Claim to be in Los Angeles, but the person did not give me an address. Don't know where they are really located. Something called "Harris and Associates" or some sort of variation has a history of debt scamming on 800notes.
Just because someone on the phone calling you says you owe a debt does not mean you actually owe it.
If a voice on the telephone claims you owe a debt:
1. Demand the person give you his or her name, company name, and address
2. Demand a debt validation letter by US mail. E-mail no good.
3. Do not pay the collection agent or anyone else a dime until the debt is validated
Of course they won’t do this, no scammer ever will, so simply ignore them and block their calls.
If they are bothering you, report them:
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0149-debt-collection (Threatening civil proceedings with no intent to follow through, or threatening criminal process in order to collect a civil debt is a violation of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.)
Also contact your local attorney general
If they continue to bother you, and you know you do not owe any money, tell them that you know this is a debt scam and that you are making a complaint to the police for extortion. Once you get a copy of the police report and they call you again , just read out the file number and the name of the PD or Sheriff’s office involved. Tell them you’ll be glad to send a copy to them at whatever address the jack***es are working out of now.
You'll probably have to yell at them and talk over them. Tell 'em no scammy debt collector is going to push you around.
You have to get tuff with these people because, being akin to thugs, brute force is (metaphorically speaking). the only thing they understand.
Debt collection scam. If some sort of legal complaint had been filed in your local courthouse, you'd have heard about it by letter from an attorney for the other side. You'd have a paper trail. You'd have already been served with process by a process server authorized to serve process in your locality. You would NOT have first heard about this from a debt collector who cold calls you and starts asking for money and refuses to ID herself. These callers are seriously bad actors. Ignore and block their calls. See my other entry.