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
Contact FTC, your local police, your state Attorney General, and the Riverside Sheriff's Department.
You can also sue, under FDCPA, as well as federal banking laws. Although FRB Reg. E limits bank disputes to 60 days from the statement date of the statement showing the disputed charge, the SOL is 1 year. If they illegally pulled your credit report to use in the scam, you can sue under FCRA.
Also be aware of the rules on bank notice of disputes under FRB Reg. E. Your bank may not be off the hook if they made a mistake in advising you.
Make sure you are figuring the 60 day dispute window correctly. It's 60 days from the statement date, not from the charge date. That may give you a couple more weeks for a timely dispute.
And if you notified your bank of fraud, the date of effective notice to your bank is any date you called or even walked in and talked to a bank employee, or the mailing date if you notified them by mail, even if they never received a mailed notification, if you can show when it was sent.
The key here is that you took action to give them "constructive notice", not that they acted on it. Notification is considered "constructive" if your bank should have regarded it as notice, even if they ignored it. The effective date is NOT delayed until completion and receipt of your fraud affidavit.
Also contact the Riverside office of the FBI.
Although they have been reportedly getting many complaints, they seem to think there is no problem as long as the threats are just made by phone. Or maybe they are assuming it's just more fake debt collectors from India.
You should also contact an attorney with experience in FDCPA, FCRA, and debt collection law. You might try www.naca.net
One of the attorney's I spoke with today said it would probably cost me more in fees than the money I'm out. He did inform me that there's a statue of limitation, and that these guys had no business calling me to begin with. I'm just so angry! I'm moving in a few months, and this is holding up the process.
"One of the attorney's I spoke with today said it would probably cost me more in fees than the money I'm out. He did inform me that there's a statue of limitation, and that these guys had no business calling me to begin with."
The amounts they go after are chosen to be as large as they can get away with given what people are likely to guess that an attorney will cost. That is part of how this type of scam is designed.
Most telemarketing frauds, whether fake "debt collection", fake "lottery", "advance fee" loan fraud, or whatever, go after from about $800 to several thousand dollars, in the range of the monthly rent that most people can scrape up. They use threats, not only to get the money, but to make people afraid to go to the authorities, and so they are less likely to try to reverse payments within the 60 day dispute periods.
Once they get past 60 days, they are home free, as you found out, even though you can still sue them. They put a bunch of barriers in the way of suing them, like hiding their names, locations, using legal shells, operating from out of the country, banks in Cyprus, etc. You can change the details, or the script, all you want, but the end goal is to make you give up once they get your money.
This is all common practice with fraudulent telemarketing and similar scams, and the same structure is visible here.
The SOL issue is practically irrelevant, since even though they might have threatened a lawsuit after SOL, violating FDCPA, they also violated FDCPA with practically every action it prohibits. There is no shortage of reasons to sue them.
Information from numerous complaints is indicating THEY DON'T OWN THE DEBT, AND THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO COLLECT IT. It is fraud and extortion, a SCAM, a CON, just like the Boyland "police investigator" racket that was shut down in Buffalo, and they are using YOUR CREDIT REPORT to get the information to con you.
You really should run this by an attorney with experience specifically in FDCPA and consumer fraud. You are looking for one willing to take such a case on contingency, getting paid his fees and expenses by the court if you win, on top of your damages.
Both FDCPA and FCRA allow courts to award attorney fees, which shifts the "cost" calculation back toward the consumer, but most consumers don't know that. Based on the scale of this, RICO applies as well, and it allows for trebling of damages. There is a PI out of Palm Desert CA who has been asking for fraud reports from consumers, in order to meet the requirements for a RICO case.
Due to the scope of this operation, and not only your substantial fraud losses, this deserves some strategizing. Contact Pete Barry at Barry, Slade, and Wheaton. He runs an FDCPA Bootcamp, training other attorneys in how to litigate FDCPA cases against debt collectors. He may be interested in looking for vulnerabilities in a debt collector set up from the start to engage in fraud and get away with it. Although he may not be able to represent you specifically if you are in another state, he might be able to put you in touch with a good attorney in your state, or one interested in taking this on as a class action.
http://www.lawpoint.com/index.php?option=com_ ... &id=6&Itemid=14
Also, follow up in reporting this fraud to all regulatory and law enforcement agencies, as suggested above. There are mixed reports from victims on how interested law enforcement has been in pursuing this. Identifiable, actual monetary fraud losses resulting from threats of sending your family to jail may shift this interest in the right direction.
You might also have to provide additional id to a credit reporting agency, like a utility bill showing your new address, to obtain a credit report after moving.
So far, I have not seen any reports that they actually posted negative "collection" tradelines. Only reports of people finding credit inquiries. They appear to operate mainly through threats, while trying to maintain "plausible deniability" and minimizing the creation of evidence that could be used against them.
The "reports" that they remove some original creditor's negative tradeline all appear to be shills.
Key question is how are they choosing the victims they target.
What was the alleged "debt" they conned you into paying to them?
Alleged old credit card account? Alleged payday loan? Alleged bank overdraft?
Did it sound like an account you actually had?
Did it sound like one actually on your credit report?
How much information did they have, and what was accurate or inaccurate?From how far back, based on what they said? Based on what you know about the old account?
Did the accurate information match what would be visible on your credit report?
Or did they just have excuses for why you didn't quite recognize it, depending on their threats of arrest to get you to pay?
If you questioned some of their "information" as inaccurate, how did they respond? What excuses did they have?
What, exactly, showed up on your credit report, and which credit report?
Under what name(s) did inquiries appear?
How was the inquiry labeled, as to "permissible purpose"?
Collection account, account review, visible to others or not, etc?
Did any other inquiries show up in the preceding several months?
Any "promotional" inquiries, used by potential lenders to obtain lists of consumers to send "firm offers of credit"?
Any names show up that aren't recognizeable as a bank or credit card company?
In particular, any inquiries under names that might look like a "debt negotiation" or "debt refinance" company?
http://www.insidearm.com/daily/collection-law ... tion-scam-case/
"Guilty Plea Entered in California Debt Collection Scam Case
by Patrick Lunsford – insideARM.com – June 20, 2011
...
According to the plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Fresno, Darrian Jeffrey Summers of Taft, Calif., was a salesman for Maxwell, Turner and Associates Inc. (MTA) in Bakersfield, a company that purported to be a debt collection agency. When MTA collected money from debtors, they would not send the money to their clients. MTA would also tell clients that additional fees were needed to advance the litigation process, although no litigation was actually taking place.
Summers admitted that the losses to clients ranged from $1.6 million to $1.7 million.
Summers agreed to forfeit any claim he had to $919,419 in cash seized in December 2010 when he was arrested. He is scheduled to appear in late August for sentencing, where he faces as much as 20 years in jail and fines of up to $250,000.
The case was brought as a result of an ongoing investigation between the IRS, Bakersfield Police Department, and the Kern County District Attorney’s Office.
...
Add Your Comments
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R Hall says
It’s not surprising that the scammer was in California. A state that went from a stringent licensing state that even required Qualified Managers (I was one) to a state that anyone can open an agency without a bond or license. While the AG can prosecute Robbins-Rosenthal, I don’t know of anyone that can protect creditors from being ripped of by “agencies”. No disrespect to my friends in California who run legitimate agencies but its thew Wild West for thieves like this guy.
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They just replied to my email, LOL! To send them my file #, and they will send me a PIF letter...
Hmm... I wonder how to reply.
What email address are they using?
No rush to decide instantly, as what you want is to get information from them and catch them, not get their worthless PIF email unless it can be used to nail them.
Which CRA did they pull, under what name(s)?
What was the alleged credit card account (bank or lender) they used there?
What bank, alleged opening dates, any delinquent date information, etc?
How long was this account reported on your reports? (footprint)
What information showed from your credit report, balances, monthly payment history, monthly balance history, missed payments or other negative information, etc. vs. what information did they use to convince you that you owed them?
What final balance shows on your credit report, vs. what amount did they claim was owed, vs. what did they "settle" for?
(I don't care about your account number, just looking for how they are using CR info)
They have to be getting lists of victims somehow.
Were ANY names showing under promotional inquiries not seen by others that did not look like recognizeable or known banks?
Maybe back several days to a couple months earlier than the full credit pull that happened just before the calls started.
What specific literal threats did they make against you, or any of your relatives?
Did they make threats against you regarding your relatives, or visa versa?
(Assume the "process servers" are them, not just the closers. They are all in the same call centers, despite pretending they aren't responsible for what the "process servers" say.)
Yes, they said they would email me the letter to begin with. I got it 2/16/11.
They pulled my experian one, using Pacific Management Recovery, LLC.
The lender they used I'm assuming is Chase, but again, I do not recall ever having an acct with chase. Actually, when I replied to you last I got a spoof email from Citi. I digress.
Says it was opened 10/2004, and last reported 2/2007. The balance shown on my report is 700. They "settled" for $1808.86.
There are a few interesting ones on there that have a list of complaints against them.
-Client Services Inc
-Enhanced Recovery Co, LLC
Basically I was told that they would arrest my parents, and myself for not making good on this.I had to pay or else a sheriff was coming to take me to jail within the hour. That after court costs and this I'd be held accountable for $10,000 if I did not settle immediately. At the time of the phone call I had spent all weekend at the hospital with a terminally ill relative, I was tired, and concerned about my family's well-being. I just wanted them to stop harassing me.
Should I email and request a certified letter be sent to me?
They have a pattern of complaints of harassment and abusive collection, with possibly employee deception, but probably not the faked "debts" like the Corona Scam.
Enhanced Recovery appears to be a debt collector out of Jacksonville FL. Jacksonville FL has been home to several fake "debt" and abusive debt collectors, most noteably Ellis Crosby, several of which have been shut down by the Florida AG. Not clear if that has any connection to the Corona Scam.
They do show some complaints of collecting on unowed debts with the usual debt collector deception and abuse approach.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/enhanced-recovery.aspx
Finding those on your credit report, along with some old bank related account, would make you an ideal target.
Any other names, particularly under categories not visible to others, or making offers of credit?
It might not look like a debt collector. It might have the name "Pacific" in it, like other Corona Scam names. (Jason Begley had some "debt settlement" company that shows up with that in the name before these scam complaints started appearing.)
Also, have you checked your other 2 credit reports?
Just guessing.
"Rincon Management" and "Pacific Management Recovery" are both connected Corona Scam names. They are reported to have several domains under the .biz ending. You can typically find them under various online yellow pages searches for their various names.
Did the scammers say the bank was specifically "Chase"?
Did they have any "suggestions" or excuses if you said you didn't recognize that as your account?
What bank name does your credit report show, literally?
How much of an account number does your credit report show?
How much of an account number did they have?
If partial, did the two pieces of partial information match?
What, literally, did the email on 2-16-11 say about the account?
Did it identify the alleged bank, and show a complete account number?
Did you have any accounts with WAMU, taken over by Chase when it collapsed around 2008?
(When people don't recognize banks at all, they do appear to be using banks that went under. Most common Corona Scam "bank" is "First National Bank of Delaware", apparently absorbed by some other bank a decade ago.)
Raising a "$700" amount to "settle" for $1800, threatening "$10,000" by playing up the court costs is pretty typical for this scam. Threatening specific "court costs" that have not even been awarded by any court, is deceptive collection in violation of FDCPA. Just raise it enough so a couple thousand sounds cheap, and they have leverage to pull of the con.
Threatening to "arrest your parents" (For what? Answering the phone?) for some "debt" you allegedly owe, is what makes this extortion.
What was the spoof "Citi" email, and when did you receive it relative to other communications from them? It may not be a digression.
Ignore the names, and lump it all back together, a la RICO. Hence the name "Corona Scam".
Seems like they only used Equifax, and Experian.
She was escorted straight to jail. Her sentencing date is Aug 16th, 2011
Who did they claim this "client" was? Chase, or someone else?
So did you already pay all the payments, or just some of them?
Did they, in fact, send this alleged "documentation needed to notify the credit bureaus to update the credit file to a PAID IN FULL status"?
Or is that what you are trying to get from them now?
What did they claim was the amount actually due, for which they offered to "settle" for $1808.86?
How did this amount compare to any actual old account information on your credit reports?
If this is all fake, as is most likely, but you did have negative information on your credit report on the account they promised to mark "PAID IN FULL", they would not be able to change it, or even update it with "PAID IN FULL".
Data furnishers can only change information they have posted.
If the original account was, say, Chase, then only Chase could change it.
If Chase sold it, then the balance would normally report as $0, with some indication that it had not been paid, and maybe that it had been sold.
Their offer was deceptive from the start, since if they hadn't posted the information, they couldn't change it.
Most other complaints have reported finding inquiries on Experian. A couple have reported inquiries on Equifax.
Under what names did inquiries occur under each CRA?
Do ANY of your reports show other earlier suspicious inquiries, probably not using these same names?
If you Google "corona scam" it suggests "Corona collections scams".
If you Google "corona debt sca" it suggests "Corona collections scams".
If you Google "corona collec" it suggests "Corona collections scams".
If you Google "collections scam" it suggests "collections scams", "awa collections scams", "debt collections scams", "corona collections scams", and "cbcs collections scams".
So, based on what people have searched for, Google "thinks" there is something called "collections scams" of which "corona collections scams" are a prominant variety.