So glad I found this comment! I just had an identical call from the SAME person using the same name!! Caller was: Summer Sims calling from the "Processing Dept" at R. Reynolds. I received a call from an "Unknown Number", and a message telling me about a civil suit that will be finalized, and sent to the county clerks office in the county that I live. Several problems with that though... #1, a civil suit cannot be filed in one state on a person living in another.... #2, a firm is not going to warn a person about an impending suit, the person in question would just be served...and #3, a real law firm would call from a Named/Listed number, NOT an "Unknown/Private Number". What really irks me is that she mentioned my full name and DOB on her voicemail! These people really do their research to seem as legit as they can. UGH!! I HATE scams like these!!
So glad I found this comment! I just had an identical call from the SAME person using the same name!! Caller was: Summer Sims calling from the "Processing Dept" at R. Ronalds. I received a call from an "Unknown Number", and a message telling me about a civil suit that will be finalized, and sent to the county clerks office in the county that I live. Several problems with that though... #1, a civil suit cannot be filed in one state on a person living in another.... #2, a firm is not going to warn a person about an impending suit, the person in question would just be served...and #3, a real law firm would call from a Named/Listed number, NOT an "Unknown/Private Number". What really irks me is that she mentioned my full name and DOB on her voicemail! These people really do their research to seem as legit as they can. UGH!! I HATE scams like these!!
My aunt received a call from this number by a man named Thomas Meyer. He gave her a case # and told her to have us call as they are filing a civil suit against my husband. We have never used her as a reference on anything so how did they get her number. I googled my husband and she was the first person that popped up as family. Rediculous that they stalk family members that have nothing to do with any of your personal stuff.
Criminals are masquerading as debt collectors in an attempt to extort money from people by scaring them into believing that:
a. You are going to be sued and it will cost you lots of money when they allegedly “win” their case.
b. That they are about to file criminal charges or that you will be criminally charged (they use the bad check or hot check claim a lot) and go to jail, even though debt is civil not criminal, there are no criminal charges, and debtor’s prison was outlawed over 200 years ago.
c. That they will take away your driver’s license.
d. That will garnish your wages without actually being suing you, going to court, or even winning a case and obtaining a judgement followed by a judge’s consent to the garnishment. They also claim that your wages will be garnished in amounts far above all legal limits.
One of the tricks they use is to call your family, friends, neighbors and/or places of employment (past or present or both) to create panic and embarrassment so that their intended victim calls them and they can scare that person into paying their extortion money. They often call people that have never even been associated with you because they get erroneous information off of the internet.
They will use the words “Mediator”, “Arbitrator”, “Law Office” or claim that they are a “Lawyer or Paralegal” to make you believe that they are something other than a debt collector want-a-be and that they don’t have to follow Federal and State collection laws, even though they do have to follow those laws. They also tell you that if you fail to call them back you are "waiving your right to council" or that “the case will proceed without you” which is pretty much nothing but hogwash. They tell you that they need a “statement” from you regarding the complaint and if you don’t call back they “wish you good luck as things unfold”. They use the phrase “consider yourself notified/served” or “govern yourself accordingly” a lot, something they should do themselves.
They claim they are officers of the court, or that an officer will accompany them, or even that they are sending officers to arrest you. All hogwash. They tell you to lock up your dogs and guns for “everyone’s” protection. More hogwash.
They mention that they have received a Fax document, to create the sense of urgency and tell you that they are a “process server”. This is simply ruse to get you to call another number (with a made up case number) where they will ask for money to “make it go away” (this is actually the same place, they work in teams, one pretending to be the server, and the other usually pretends to be a lawyer). They threaten to serve you at home or at work. They tell you that if they serve you at work they need a supervisor, security, or HR person there as a witness, hoping that will cause you to panic over the alleged embarrassment of being served at work. They also tell you that you will need two forms of ID. None of which is true. Process servers do not ever call ahead so that you can dodge them. Process servers get paid to serve papers, nothing else. They certainly are not going to pass up a paycheck by telling you that you can avoid being served, they are not going to give you an extra day or even a few hours to get a “stop order”. Court documents are time sensitive and have to be served within a certain amount of time. Remember that you can always call the local courthouse to see if there is actually a lawsuit that has been filed against you.
Read up on your rights here 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://800notes.com/faq/attorney-general