I received a call from them also about a payday loan i defaulted in 2007. The said if i do not make payment arrangments with them, they would send a unformed sheriff to my place of work or home to serve me court papers. They said that this loan went to two collection agencies who they said contacted me but i never was contacted by either of them. I cannot find an address on them to even send them a validation letter. do not know what to do. i do not want a sheriff to come to my house or work. do not know if this is a scam or not.
I got the same phone call from 4407768949 number. They threaten us with check fraud at first, then said something about a loan. We tried to look up info on their company,(IAC) or (IEC) could not find anything. I even pulled up my credit report and i didnt see anything but they told me it wouldnt be on there cause its a legal matter. ??? I dont understand i thought if u got something on credit and never paid it would always be on there. Its only been five years ago from their claim. I also did a search on that number its in oberlin, ohio.
Unless you write bad checks or have delinquent debt, this is a version of an extortion scam trying to scare you into paying them money. You are being...
1. charged with fraud or passing bad checks or embezzlement or
2. served with a court summons or arrest warrant or bench warrant or whatever or
3. located in preparation to being served or for a lawsuit or to be arrested or
4. sued for cable TV usage that you've been stealing for years or
5. whatever stupid crap reasons they will think up next.
And you have to...
1. call back with your case number or
2. confirm your address or SSN or whatever so you can be served or your papers can be processed or
3. pay $895 now to avoid paying $5,000 in court or
4. whatever stupid crap reasons they will think up next.
Beware extortion scams come in many flavors and they constantly evolve to stay one step ahead of the law.
The FBI warns about payday loan extortion scams here http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/paydayloanscam_120710
The BBB has issued several alerts on this scam, just google "bbb.org alert phony debt collector"
Never do what they tell you to do but report them to the Internet Crime Complaint Center http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx , the Federal Communications Commission http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm , the Federal Trade Commission https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ and your state AG, as appropriate.
This is likely a scam because process servers do not call you up to tell you they are coming (you could run away!) and debtors do *NOT* send out validation letters -- debt collectors give debtors validation letters when debtors ask for them in writing. Has anyone shown up to serve you in the past 3 weeks? Of course not! This is a scam!
There's a 7 year limit on bad debts. Generally, after 7 years, they disappear from your credit report. This sounds to me like a payday loan scam. They threaten criminal prosecution if you don't pay up. Thing is, there is no criminal action that can be taken if you fail to repay a payday loan. They can take you to civil court, but that's about it.