If you read the posts above you'll notice that the caller at this number claims to be representing Baltimore County, Volusia County and Cook County. It's a sure sign that this is a scam.
Received call from 443-360-5953 on May 7th. Said her names was Tonya Strickland from Judicial Branch Court Services. Said she was waiting on paperwork at the Court House to be served to me. Said if I had any questions to call 855-207-1771. I called the number and was told it was in reference to a PayDay loan that I had defaulted on. Told her I had never had a PayDay Loan and she said I am telling you that you have 2 of them and that I was being brought up on Wire Fraud charges because I made the loans and then closed my checking account. I told her that my identity had been compromised and that is the reason I closed all of my accounts several years ago. The women was being a real pain. She said that the original loan was for $650. and that with interest and etc... that I could settle out of court for $2600. or if I don't do that the papers are in the process of being completed at the courthouse and will be served to me shortly. Once that is done then their client is not willing to budge on the full amount of $5800. Which once it goes to court would mean a wage garnishment etc... I started getting suspicious that something was a little out of sorts. I told them that I needed time to investigate this for myself. I had just gotten a copy of my Credit Report and knew there was nothing outstanding on it so I knew something was up. They kept trying to get me to pay the $2600 to avoid going to court. I finally told them I would take my chances in court.
Not 5 minutes after I hung up the phone Tonya Strickland called back and said that she had just received email telling her that the court papers were ready and that she would be at my place of employment within the hour. That was 20 days ago and no one has ever showed up (because there never was any paperwork at the courthouse). BE CAREFUL. They have a way of making you think this is official. They say it is a Government Secured Line and that we are being recorded. What a crock!!
I received this message on my voice mail:
"This message is intended for one xxxx with the social ending xxxx this is Joan Ellis with judicial services calling for service of process in Baltimore County. This is for a pending court summons looking to be served out to you within the next 48 hours either at your place of employment or residence that we do have on file. Now the plaintiff office if you need any case details or possibly an out of court dismissal. The plaintiffs(?) number is 855-208-7655. You have a pre-trial case number of CR 726348. If you are served in the interim of receiving this voicemail do not make contact with the plaintiff. Just proceed to court on the specified date and time indicated on your legal documents and once again this has been an official notification for one xxxxx with the social ending in xxxx, I have received this same call 3 times from people with different names from this same number trying to get money for a payloan they say that I had filed in BK in 2014. the name of the company they give me is different from the company I had the payday loan through.
Same situation as the two above callers. I've been getting calls from different numbers. They all say the same thing. They sound official and threaten to serve you at your place of business.
I received this message on my voice mail:
"This message is intended for one xxxx with the social ending xxxx this is Joan Ellis with judicial services calling for service of process in Volusia County. This is for a pending court summons looking to be served out to you within the next 48 hours either at your place of employment or residence that we do have on file. Now the plaintiff office if you need any case details or possibly an out of court dismissal. The plaintiffs(?) number is 855-203-2142. You have a pre-trial case number of CR 742096. If you are served in the interim of receiving this voicemail do not make contact with the plaintiff. Just proceed to court on the specified date and time indicated on your legal documents and once again this has been an official notification for one xxxxx with the social ending in xxxx and the contact person name is Gail Davis ext 414. I don't have any payday loans, and I don't owe anyone.
ID themselves as "The Processing Division" Not Judicial Services of Volusia County. This is basically a debt collection scam. They are pretending to be with some vague governmental entity for the purpose of scaring you into paying them something. Don't fall for it.
If you were the subject of a pending lawsuit, you'd have heard about it from the attorney for the other side. You would have received a letter from the attorney. They would be a paper trail.
Also, if you were going to be served with court papers, it would have to be by a person authorized under the laws of your state to serve process. No process server who's legitimate calls you in advance and tells you he or she is coming by.
No debt collector would have ANYTHING to do with a pending or ongoing court matter. As a general rule debt collectors are not authorized to serve process and they are generally not authorized to practice law.
This is a debt collection scam from the word go.
Just because a voice on the telephone claims you owe a debt does not mean you 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 block their calls and ignore them.
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. You might have to yell at the scammer and talk over him or her. 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.