Collection Harrasment
Complaint
Chris B.
Country: United States
I have been getting calls at home and work from Paul Smith/Mike Davis from ph# 646-626-6103 claiming to be with LLC Law. They have threatened saying that i owe them $5000.00+ Dollars in fees and filing charges. They are saying if dont pay they will throw my bother and friend in jail as well for being references on my app. I applied for a loan online that i never got so i thought i was declined for not getting it. I never received a letter why i was decline via snail mail or e-mail. I have checked bankstatements and i show no deps from anyone other than my employer. Almost everything that i have read on this website has happened to me. The people have a very heavy accent and will never verify or send me any info to validate this debt via mail and can never verify any of my info other than the last 4 of my social and current address. I dont know how to make them stop and if they are outof the country i dont see how i can.
Comments
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/zjpANESR-QDbEAjMpmL2KQ
They are a scam. Just a bunch of criminals trying to use phone threats to con people out of several thousand dollars.
" I applied for a loan online that i never got so i thought i was declined for not getting it. "
This type of scam often gets its information from phony on-line "payday loan" sites. What was the URL of the site you applied to? File a complaint with www.ic3.gov
"I have checked bankstatements and i show no deps from anyone other than my employer. "
Nor would you. These are criminals, getting access to your personal information so they can use it to con you.
"The people have a very heavy accent"
There are a lot of such scammers operating out of India or Pakistan, taking advantage of cheap VoIP phone service.
"will never verify or send me any info to validate this debt via mail{"
Of cource not. It's a con. They depend on threats to get money out of people. There is not "debt".
"can never verify any of my info other than the last 4 of my social and current address."
They may have gotten that information either from the on-line application you made, or they may have access to credit reports.
" I dont know how to make them stop and if they are outof the country i dont see how i can."
Report them to the FBI, then if they call, tell them you are recording the call as evidence, or just laugh at them and hang up. Once they realize; they can't con you, they will look for someone else.
They aren't "attorneys", "investigators", or any form of "law enforcement".
They can't "sue", or "arrest" you, "put you in jail", or anything else but scream at you on the phone, and that only if you let them.
They are just criminal phone thugs running a phony "debt" extortion racket from safely across the sea. Globalized crime.
The pattern of complaints indicates that they may have access to credit report or skip trace information, as it is commonly reported that they harass relatives as part of this scheme.
Then he came on the line and started telling me how I owe thousands of dollars and will have to pay lawyers and court fees unless I make an arrangement. I gave him no information, but I asked some questions. They are from
Global Filing Services. Does anyone have anything on this company? Honestly, I would be really pissed right now, but my daughter just had a life threatening surgery and I am way too busy to think about it. If anyone can shed some light, I would be most grateful.
Thanks so much..
and PS..if you were going to be served court papers, would they call you before?
BTW, I tried a reverse phone # look up and that phone number doesn't exist
"they used different names and a different payday loan company..."
They aren't a "law office". Any attorney engaging in these extortion rackets would be disbarred. Those aren't their names either. This type of scammer changes their names as often as their underwear, at least once a month. They also change their phone numbers frequently.
"told us we had a payday loan with someone we never even heard of..."
You never heard of them because you never had a payday loan with them. They are liars and crooks.
"called our house twice and my husband's work..he is not supposed to recieve calls at work unless they are emergencies..."
It's an extortion racket. They will harass people at work to threaten them with loss of their job, to extort money from them.
"they said the police would be here tomorrow at 11am..."
They won't, but you should report THEM to the police and the FBI, and so should your husband. He should also report this to his HR department. These are criminal extortionists. He didn't do anything to attract their threatening calls. You want his HR department on notice that this is going on, and has been reported to the authorities. Other co-workers might also be subjected to these threats.
"how can this be stopped"
Report them to the FBI. If they call, tell them you have reported them to the FBI, and are recording the call as evidence. Or just hang up until they move on.
Change your home and cell phone numbers to new unlisted numbers, and do NOT have the phone company provide any forwarding information attached to the old numbers. Cut off all contact. Do not give them any reason to believe they are getting any response from you, that they might use to extort you.
If they are overseas based, (often India), tracing the number is less useful, unless you want to go after their VoIP provider or money transfer agent (probably Western Union or MoneyGram).
Complaints threatening jail, and using the name at the head of this thread are usually associated with overseas phone extortion rackets.
Did they indicate how the wanted the money sent?
How did they want you to send the money?
Alias commonly used in a fake "lawsuit" scam.
"just giving me a courtesy call that I was going to be served court papers"
"he said he was just calling me from "the processing center". "
Fake "lawsuit" scam.
"Then was trying to fish for information from me, by spouting off addresses"
They pull credit reports or get information from skip-trace or search services, and use it to intimidate their targets in this scam, to sound "official".
"Then he said that if I can confirm who I am, then he can give me more direct information. So I confirmed my first name. Then he gave me a case number and a phone number to call."
That was the real purpose of this "process server" call, to direct you to call the phony "debt collector", thinking you were being "sued", so they could con you into "settling".
"First, they don't answer the phone with any company name. They just say "This is" Corporate". "
It's a scam. They hide their identity and location as much as they can.
"Then he came on the line and started telling me how I owe thousands of dollars and will have to pay lawyers and court fees unless I make an arrangement. I gave him no information, but I asked some questions. They are from Global Filing Services."
That is their usual pitch. Don't ask what this debt is, cause you are being sued and its either going to cost you a lot for an attorney and court costs, or you could pay us this "settlement". Such a deal!
"if you were going to be served court papers, would they call you before?"
Very good. You aren't as dumb as they think.
Everything so far is consistent with many complaints against a known cluster of phony "debt" extortion rackets run out of Corona CA, under a variety of names: PMG, Portfolio Management Group, HGG, Horizon Global Group, AF Group, American Financial Group, and on, and on...
"Global Filing Service" is a new name, but similar to other names they have used, and they have used "Filing Firm" or "Filing Service" as part of their names before, trying to imply they are either a "law firm", or a "process server", as part of creating the appearance that a "lawsuit" has been filed.
If they aren't directly the above cluster, there are several other similar scams nearby in Southern California, as well as others run out of the Buffalo NY area, where the New York Attorney General has prosecuted several. Multiple details you reported, however, match the Corona cluster.
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/QrqUYTUISgCLBgjMeJtSCQ
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/tsuaA05s2wB5yAjNE5nv7A
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/8K8ICcKeigDrqAjM7ZFIxw
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/UqSiJMKwxwAkzQjMf-wqZA
You can also find them being tracked on 800notes.com and whocallsme.com, where they have been caught posting shill posts trying to look like panicked debtors stunned by "lawsuits" and "garnished wages". Their shill posts have a number of common characteristics, and are generally "outed" within hours.
Names and aliases are easy to change. Phone numbers are more reliable to track and connect related complaints.
What phone numbers did they use?
Debt collectors are required to comply with both state and federal debt collection laws, specfically FDCPA. These scammers routinely violate practically every prohibition in the law: threats, harassment, deception, faking "debts", falsely claiming they have "sued", and on and on...
In particular, since this "process server" (one of them) is calling, they are claiming they have already sued, in which case if they haven't, then that also is a violation. That "lawsuit" would have to be filed in your county, so if you check with your county court, and it's not, bingo: violation.
Furthermore, since they "spouted off addresses", it is likely they pulled one of your credit reports, to use in this scam. Abuse and intimidation are violations as well, but pulling a credit report without "permissible purpose" is a violation of FCRA, and may also have criminal penalties when used in a fraudulent scheme, such as collecting fake "debts".
Contact your District Attorney, and report that you believe you are being harassed by a phony "debt" extortion racket. Have them check if there is any record of this "lawsuit" in court records. If not, there's your evidence.
You can sue over those violations, and hand this off to a consumer attorney to deal with them. Both FDCPA and FCRA allow consumers and their attorneys to enforce these laws, as private "attorneys general", suing in your local state or federal court, and courts may award damages and attorney fees. You might try www.naca.net
For now, however, you need to set your mind at ease.
Check with your DA, to get a complaint on file, and determine no "lawsuit" has been filed.
If you provide the phone numbers, it will likely be possible to link this harassment to these particular crooks.
I've filed a complaint with my local sheriffs department and put a hold on my bank account and have the phone company watching for bogus charges but want to find other ways to get this to stop for everyone. I was told 1 out of every 1000 people they call will end up paying them something becuase they are worried they will get in trouble. THIS NEEDS TO STOP.
So Sam Parker or RObin Wilson or whoever you decide to be today. We are AMericans and smarter than you think we are. Our first clue that you are a scam artist is going to be that we CAN'T UNDERSTAND THE WORDS COMING OUT OF YOUR MOUTH.
call 17186736126 for a good time. Ask for SAM PARKER
They use fake "payday loan" websites to get the consumer information to use in the con. When you applied on-line, it was a fake site.
They might also have access to old payday loan data, or possibly consumer credit reports. Since they are sometimes reported to harass relatives or coworkers, they might have access to some skip-trace service.
As you know, there is no "loan".
You do not owe them anything.
Even if you thought they were describing some "debt" you might owe, you could not owe it to them, since they are just lying criminals running a con.
They are not "attorneys", "investigators", "prosecutors", "officers", etc.
They cannot "arrest" you.
They cannot "prosecute" you.
They cannot do anything to you except threaten you, unless YOU send them money.
They are just lying criminals running a scam, using cheap VoIP phone service that can appear to be from any U.S. area code.