Harassment
Complaint
Debra M. Persiano
Country: United States
I got a call today at home from a man stating he was a process server for Collin County DA's Office and he is with the Sheriff's office and needed to come serve a warrant on me. I was shocked and asked why? He stated do you live ....are you still at this address are you now at this address and I stated who are you? He again, stated he was from the county going to serve court papers on me today. He gave me a toll free number for what he stated was the county's office which is 1 866.872.6116 gave me a case no. which he called a Cause No. 008307-TX. I called the number was transferred to a Mr. Fisher's office who stated that law suite in the amount of $6,214.24 was filed in Collin Co., Tx and that warrant was out for me. He then after back and forth said let me get more information from my secretary and state this was for an outstanding debt in from Capital One a credit card that I obtained several years back and had disputes over interest charges etc. He stated that if I did not want to go to court or jail that I could pay $1,951.00 in full by end of business today and this matter could be cleared up. I explained that I recently lost my job etc. Anyway, he stated that I needed to call him back by EOB today or they will serve the papers. Ok, so that was a heads up for me. I called the DA's office nothing is filed on me as of today, after searching PMG it is clear that they do not practice best practices for collections and have been in trouble for this before back in 2004. I need someone to give me advise. I want to pay off my debt, I don't want this type of collections to continue this upset me, made my blood pressure raise, this type of collections are not the right thing to do. Had they called and ask to make arrangements or give me an opportunity to clear the matter, rather then threaten me by taken legal action, or harassment stating they are sending a sheriff over today. This is wrong, bad business, and should not continue this company is bad news.
Comments
Suspect characteristics: Stilted language, payday loan application to collect information, references to "First National Bank of Delaware", missing contact information.
http://www.myusapaydaycash.com/first-national-bank-of-delaware
"...
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..."
Search on "myusapaydaycash" and you get a bunch of fake blogs touting various payday loan sites. Pretty generic junk.
http://www.faqs.org/banks/The-First-National- ... e-Ohio.html#top
Deceptive name use benefits from "plausible deniability" through confusion and unlikelyhood of tracing records.
"Registrant:
My USA Payday Cash
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: MYUSAPAYDAYCASH.COM
Domain servers in listed order:
NS2585.HOSTGATOR.COM
NS2586.HOSTGATOR.COM
..."
Registered on 5-02-11. It's recent.
http://dailydomains.org/domain/20110502/page/175
Also note "Copyright 2006-2010", which is unlikely to be accurate for a scam site.
BBB.org search shows no match to "www.myusapaydaycash.com"
BBB logo use is probably unauthorized.
BBB also shows nothing under "First National Bank of Delaware".
Contact the Riverside office of the FBI.
Most complaints report some call by a fake "process server", often first to relatives to panic and create the appearance of some "lawsuit", so the victim calls back in a panic willing to pay a "settlement" on an unknown "debt" with no proof it even exists.
This complaint ties it to "AF Group", another Corona Scam name.
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/af-groupunited-cc-holdings-c433378.html
At last count, I had 26 names, mostly LLCs, mostly with mail drops in or around the city of Corona CA, including Lake Elsinore. In this case, United CC Holdings showed a mail drop in Fullerton, CA, which is also within a few miles of Corona. Odds are, they have no physical presence in Ontario. Most Corona Scam addresses are mail drops, typically UPS Stores.
You didn't say whether you actually had some old account with this "First Bank of Delaware", but I will assume you never heard of them, which led you here.
As near as I can tell, "First National Bank of Delaware", which has been mentioned in a number of similar complaints for more than a year, merged with another bank years ago, and is no more, according to FDIC. They may be using this name in their scripts to discourage attempts to determine if any alleged "debts" are bogus.
It's a scam, a con. Basically, numerous complaints report that they pull credit reports and attempt to con people into paying what they claim is an "old delinquent account" that sounds like something on their credit report. Check your credit reports, particularly Experian, and see if you find a recent inquiry under one of their names, like AF Group, PMG, HGG, ARM, or this "United CC Holdings".
Also look for "promotional" inquiries that might indicate how they are targetting victims of this scam, possibly through purchase of lead lists. Look for promotional inquiries (used to make "firm offers of credit") that you do not recognize as a known bank or credit card company.
Contact FTC and the Riverside office of the FBI. They have been getting MANY complaints, and are reportedly collecting a thick file on this operation.
In addition, contact the West Virginia Attorney General, as WV requires all debt collectors to be licensed in order to collect on debts from WV residents (whether real or fake). WV has been very active against out of state debt collectors engaged in fraudulent practives, usually suing and subpoenaing their records.
Usually, the calls start within a day or two of the qredit inquiry. Some have reported receiving a notification from their credit monitoring service, followed shortly by the calls to relatives by the fake "process server".
Not sure what this "ARPA" stands for, but it is similar to other names they reportedly use, like "ARM", "AF Group", etc. Experian is the credit reporting agency appearing in the most complaints as the apparent source for consumer information used in this scam. Why don't you call Experian, and ask them who this fraudulent company is, what address they have for them, and what they claim they are?
For that matter, why don't you contact a local consumer attorney to discuss the possibility of suing them (and maybe Experian) for violations of FDCPA, FCRA, and state consumer protection laws?
Both FDCPA and FCRA allow courts to award damages and attorney fees, so there are attorneys who take such cases on contingency. There have been a couple of PIs posting on this and similar sites looking for information on this scam. One is looking for evidence to support a RICO case. If you can bring in RICO, you can treble damages, and might also get punitive damages.
You might try www.naca.net to find an attorney in your state.
Miller v. Prime West Management Recovery, LLC
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/florida/flmdce/2:2011cv00308/258631/
Baie et al v. Prime West Management Recovery LLC
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/cacdce/5:2011mc00015/504514/
-----------------------------------------------------------
DF Group has had lots of activity:
Sims v. DF Group
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/3:2011cv02192/240324/
Cutts v. DF Group
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/minnesota/mndce/0:2011cv00431/118663/
Patterson v. DF Group
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/arkansas/aredce/4:2011cv00126/85509/
Shatto v. DF Group
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/missouri/moedce/4:2011cv00215/111626/
Cordero v. DF Group
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/florida/flsdce/0:2010cv62121/368068/
Tanya Tamoukian v. DF Group
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/cacdce/2:2010cv02642/470000/
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/04/debtcollection.shtm
"For Your Information: 04/25/2011
FTC to Hold Workshop on Ways to Protect Consumers As Debt Collection Technologies Change "
Buffalo-based fraudulent "debt collection" extortion racket.
http://htc-01.media.globix.net/COMP008760MOD1 ... 42811_sess1.pdf
"...
Conor Kennedy: Yeah. So, when we consider the impact of skip-tracing technologies on consumers, which is my specialty, we can't really consider the technologies in a vacuum. That is, we need to consider them in light of the other emerging technologies that they are interoperable with or commingled with. And to illustrate, I'll use a recent criminal case that just wrapped up this February out of Buffalo, New York. The DOJ went after two directors of a 2,600-employee skip-tracing firm that had transferred the personally identifiable information of a number of consumers to bad actors who were operating a full-scale, fraudulent debt-collection scheme. And they were approached specifically with requests for profiles of individuals who had already paid off their debts -- names, addresses, telephone numbers, account information, Social Security numbers, credit-card information. And the way that this information was taken out of the building was, the directors accessed the profiles, they copied the information into a spreadsheet, loaded that up to an iPod, took the iPod out of the building -- and this happened at least 20 times -- and then synced it to an offsite third-party computer. It happened for three years. And while the directors were busy at work, during the day, their colleagues were contacting these individuals and fraudulently claiming to be deputy sheriffs executing bench warrants related to the underlying debt which these consumers had rightfully believed that they had paid off. At the end of this 3-year scheme, they had arrested more than 1,000 individuals and netted $6.8 million. When the DOJ brought charges, the only charge that they brought was selling the stolen property of a bank. At the end of the day, these two directors got parole -- or probation, rather -- two years and three years. The three years had six months of house detention. And the court itself noted that there are no criminal penalties under the FDCPA.
..."
personally identifiable information of a number of consumers to bad actors who were operating a full-scale, fraudulent debt-collection scheme. And they were approached specifically with requests for profiles of individuals who had already paid off their debts -- names, addresses, telephone numbers, account information, Social Security numbers, credit-card information.
..."
Note that all of the information obtained to use in the above fake "debt" extortion racket can be easily obtained just by pulling consumer credit reports without any illegal purchase out the back door of another company. The credit reporting agencies will eagerly sell it all to you, on just your word that you have "permissible purpose".
CAMCO showed the effectiveness of this scam, years ago. Only mistake they made was that all complaints pointed back to one company that could be held accountable. It still took over 3 years to shut down.
The Corona Scam has dealt with this weakness, using many LLC names as a smokescreen, and adding a loose chain of command for "plausible deniability", with so-called "filing firms" claiming they "sue" but are "not debt collectors", "independent contractor" fake "process servers" calling relatives, and experienced "closers" to play the game using consumers' own credit reports and playing "attorney" or adding "fees", or not, depending on how they size up the victim.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/collection-agency-s/national-filing-serv/national-filing-service-pacifi-68887.htm
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/collection-practices-c433378.html
Although you closed your account ot prevent additional fraud, you can still dispute fraudulent charges through your bank within 60 days of the statement date of the statement showing the disputed charges, and they can reverse them due to fraud. Send a WRITTEN DISPUTE to your bank, and follow up with a fraud affidavit. Have them yank the money back.
File an extortion and fraud complaint with your local police.
Other complaints have reported that several AGs have taken consumer complaint information and forwarded it to the FBI, and a PI (Cory up in Washington) has reported sending his investigation information to the FBI and the Riverside District Attorney.
Inside ex-employee and employement applicant information reports that they have 7 call centers operating out of Corona. Just based on the range of costs for rent, phone service, and so-called "independent contractors" to fill the call centers, they have to be raking in somewhere around several hundred thousand to a million dollars in fraudulent "debt settlements" a month.
This scheme has been csrefully taylored to appear smaller than it is, using at least 30 different names to difuse the complaints.
They bamboozled the Corona Police. Looks like they are doing the same with the FBI. Pretty sad response from Riverside FBI. Or do they just want a bigger trophy when they finally have to take them down?
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-813-863-1962/5