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
I have called everyone I know to try and report this.
I believe I know the name of the main guy behind this.
I HAVE NOT BEEN A VICTIM I ONLY HAVE INFORMATION TO HELP THE PUBLIC.
Nobody has interest in this case except the people being scammed.
I called the Corona PE (local paper) and spoke to two different gentlemen.
I gave them the information I had and they both just basically said they
didn't care and didn't have time to look into this situation.
I even asked them to call the PI that's been investigating this scam.
They never did.
One of the gentlemen(at the paper) was down right rude and said he didn't even believe a word I was saying.
How can we stop this if their isn't anybody with authority who even cares about this scam. I am done trying.
They are basically an "incubator" for providing resources (phones, space, training, and faked "debts", etc.) for use by scam artists. A couple ex-employee reports suggest that most of the "closers" may be extended family, relatives, or long term associates who have been playing this game for a long time, even before this operation was conceived. Their apparent sense of fraud entitlement is culturally similar to Irish Travelers or Roma gypsies.
The structure conforms to classic principles of deception, as outlined in articles and books on intelligence analysis that normally address political or military deception. That is what caught my attention, as I was studying counterdeception in connection with fraudulent telemarketing, deception by "legitimate" debt collectors' employees, the psychological intimidation and social engineering/deception they employ, and the role of plausible deniability in evading consequences for deception.
Some consumer complaints have reported that when contacted, the Riverside office of the FBI didn't think they were large enough to rate their attention, yet just based on their overhead costs (phones, rent), they must be raking in several million a year through consumer fraud losses, while growing exponentially. Others have reported that their Attorney General complaints were forwarded to the FBI. So much for the "information fusion" touted by Homeland Security.
Several consumer complaints have been consistent with FTC starting to follow up, rather than their normal generic letter reply. One reported that on contacting the phone provider through tracing the phone number, they found out that FTC had already been in contact with them to obtain information on many of their 800 numbers. Another reported a follow up interview to a filed complaint.
A third complaint reported that they had contacted FTC, and that FTC was apparently investigating at least 5 related companies, which indicates that at least they see it as a cluster that must be reconnected to see the scope. FTC has taken down fraudulent telemarketing and cramming scams hiding behind numerous names, so they should know what the game is.
These are all in the last 4 months or so, so who knows how long it will take for any action to be taken.
You might see if WIRED is interested. They have done stories on a number of Internet related frauds, notably the "Teeth Whitener" cramming scams known for use of deceptive websites. Maybe Simon Garfinkel might find the deception vs. counterdeception aspect, or the breaching of the credit reporting agencies' client vetting process, interesting from an identity information security perspective.
http://simson.net/page/Main_Page
Either that, or maybe someone at EPIC who deals with fraud through id theft and breach of privacy.
http://epic.org/
The CRAs are doing nothing to prevent this type of fraud, even though they claim to have secured access to their credit files by vetting their customers. Yet consumers attempting to catch and prosecute miscreants misusing their credit information must first deal with the credit reporting agencies' standard policies of clouding the legal responsibility of their clients.
Criminals making use of credit and skip-trace information do not face these limits. They are free to use any source they can get access to, leaving all forms of consumer information, whether legally permissible or not, fair game for data mining for use in fraudulent schemes. They don't even have to use it for classic "id theft", for opening fraudulent accounts. They can as effectively use it in these fraudulent phone schemes, with even less chance of getting caught, since they look and act like "debt collectors".
They tracked down the Boyland fake "debt collection" scam in Buffalo, even walking in with a hidden camera to record the scammers on the phone. They know what this stuff looks like, even when law enforcement is fooled. That aspect also makes the story "interesting".
For example, what were they involved in before this?
What is in common among the inner circle?
Do any have a criminal record?
Reported By: — Highland California
Submitted: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 Last Posting: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Lowell Meyer - Tom Gordy RIP OFFS WE LOST $34,000. Orange California
Report Details
Lowell Meyer - Tom Gordy
Reported By: — Highland California
Submitted: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 Last Posting: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Lowell Meyer - Tom Gordy RIP OFFS WE LOST $34,000. Orange California
Lowell Meyer - Tom Gordy
Box 5060 Orange California 92
Respond to this report!
What's this?
We have had encounters with Mr. Meyer and his real estate dealings. Did you know that he worked for DOwney Savings and Loan, whether he does now or not is unknown, but I do have written documentation that he was employeed with them. Lowell Meyer was the other end of a Mr. Tom Gordy, all I know about Gordy is his birthday is 7/3. Mr. Meyer, along with Tom Gordy got to our homes and has ruined our credit rating due to illegal real estate dealings. Tom Gordy promised we would hear from 5 banks, we never did, just Downey Savings and Loan. Making sense yet Mr. Meyer? We were told that the interest rate was going to be 4%....oh stupid us, yeah for one month. Gee Mr. Meyer you must remember coming into an escrow office, I believe it was the City of Industry, doesn't matter I still have the paperwork from the escros person Bernie, and pretending to place down $90,000 on a home of my sisters, making it show that WE put down that money so it looked like we could qualify for the 2nd loan. You made sure we secured two loans.Both homes were negative AM loans. We got smart and got out of ours with a cost of $11,000 in prepayment penalities. Then MAYBE you remember, taking 17,500 off of each house for a family trust through Tom Gordy. Who knows where the money went, I have the names of these "so called" compnaies that this money went into but gosh, imagine this, I can't find either company. Lowell, when you were called from my attorney's office, you acted as tho you didn't know who Tom Gordy was. I am sure you are still in contact with him. Here is what is the worst part. Between Lowell Meyer from Downey Savings and Loan, and Tom Gordy, a mortgage person, how many other people did you "steal" from. I have one more year to go after the both of you.
After spending money we don't have on an attorney who go no where, we are now in contact with another one. A corporate attorney. Maybe this will be the end of you and your real estate dealings. I will find you and Tom.
Diane
Highland
What ties the two together?
Not sure if they are aliases.
1) You are paying something for nothing at all. (Seems to be a matter of pride.)
2) They always convey urgency – you have to take their offer right then or the price won’t be the same. http://altadenaaboveitall.com/2008/06/06/gypsies-are-in-town/
3) Practiced. You catch them in a mistake, they are ready to fall back on another try.
4) The law is just something you go through the motions of following. Use work-arounds so you appear to, but don't actually have to.
5) Appear "upset" when told they may be violating the law. (e.g. "independent contractor" regs.)
6) Impersonating authority, but with deniability.
https://800notes.com/news/t7BaO9mkFQBIcAjMSJZnOw
More commonality than I would have expected, but maybe it's just grifter culture.
The phone # I was given to call was 877-862-2397 for Harrison North Assosciates.
I then called and talked to an operator, gave them the case #, and was directed to "Wayne" who was very rude from the start. He said I was being served papers because I was being sued for an old credit card from 2007. I don't even remember having this card, and it's not even on my credit report!
The card had only a $500 limit, but they were suing me for almost $5000!
He said they sent me a letter in July, well of course I never received a letter in July. Wayne said the total amount due on a $500 limit credit card was $2600!! And it got up to $5000 with the attorney and court cost.
He said the only way I could get out of being sued was to make a payment of 30% of the $2600. I told him I don't just have $600 laying around, and I'm sure most americans these days. He said oh yeah they do, you could do something if you wanted to. Oh and the payment would have to be made today in order not be served the papers!
He said if I was sued, they would garnish my wages, freeze my bank accounts, I could get a failure to appear, they would contact the DA for fraud, and so on....
I was stunned to receive a phone call like this today..
So Anyways I was directed to this website because I recently just got all 3 of my credit reports, and on the experian one there was inquiry from Portfolio Management Group on 9/9/11.
These are BS calls, these people should go to jail for doing this bogus crap!!!
I would like to hear similar experiences to mine....
Also, please look for any promotional inquiries on any of your reports. The missing piece in this puzzle is how they are choosing to target their victims. One possibility is that they may be buying promotional credit reports, just like the credit card companies use to make "firm offers of credit".
This scam generally starts with a call from one of these fake "process servers", made to panic you and get you to call back, so the closer can work you over. They are a bunch of liars and con artists. They routinely make illegal threats of arrest and prosecution, trying to con money out of people for faked "debts".
If this alleged "debt" wasn't on your credit report, then it is also possibly they just guessed at a common bank credit card company, and went with that.
What bank name did they use?
HSBC?
First National Bank of Deleware?
Wells Fargo?
All these have been commonly reported by people who also report they had no such account.
Contact FTC. Reportedly FTC is investigating complaints of several related debt collection companies in the Corona area. They need to be passed evidence linking all these scams together.
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/QrqUYTUISgCLBgjMeJtSCQ/12
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/QrqUYTUISgCLBgjMeJtSCQ/23
I believe this is the guy you want.
Pacific Management Recovery
http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Cor ... c/47551817.aspx
He and Lunsford used to show up connected to more of them, but in the last several months their names have been dropping off of the corporationwiki information, which is apparently pulled from filings with state Secretaries of State, mostly in CA.
They appear to be registering their LLCs as owned by other LLCs, possibly to hide ties to their names. That would also suggest that their names are real, as would federal lawsuits against Jason Begley visible on justia. Search back around page 12 for the names pulled up by corporationwiki around March 2011.
Here is one example, with the Wyoming LLC "owning" the California LLC.
http://www.corporationwiki.com/Wyoming/Cheyen ... c/47572723.aspx
Similarly, National FC, and National FC Wyoming.
http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Cor ... c/47572725.aspx
Here is "Prime West":
http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Cor ... c/47665309.aspx
Global Filing Services
http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Ora ... c/45518812.aspx
National Filing Services
http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Ora ... c/45518814.aspx
Here is Jason Begley, connected to Debt Advantage USA, which appears to be some "debt settlement" or "debt negotiation" company. This might be a candidate for buying promotional credit reports, as it might plausibly present its business as "refinancing debtors" to CRAs.
http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Corona/jason-begley/39476394.aspx
"Pacific McM", possibly also called "Pacific Managment", appears to be an unrelated company, even though it may have a similar name and be located in southern California.
http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Ora ... n/40993136.aspx
B.Barrister, Director of Client Services
3941 Park Center Drive #20
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
Tel: 916-773-3506
Fax: 800-939-6721
Email: b.barrister@agwlegal.com
"Direct Legal Services", "b.barrister", and "agwlegal.com" all are designed to make this look like a "law firm" run by licensed attorneys to the least sophisticated consumer.
Webpage here appears to be links to what they "comply" with, yet these arenot actually links.
http://directlegalservices.com/Services.html
"...
Compliance
FDCPA and state regulations
HIPAA
Robbins-Rosenthal Act
Privacy Acts
Gramm-Leach-Bliley
,,,"
This page is labeled "Collections and Litigation" to create the impression that they have the capability to litigate.
http://directlegalservices.com/Collection.html
They are also showing the logos for ACA International, and the Califonia Association of Collectors, debt collection trade organizations, which would leave you with the impression that they are members authorized to use those logos to show their membership.
Here is the membership list for California Association of Collectors.
http://www.calcollectors.net/locate/index.aspx
Guess what? NO "Direct Legal Services".
Here is the membership list for ACA International.
http://www.acainternational.org/memberdirectory.aspx
Not there, either.
And their address is just a mail drop at a UPS Store, like any Corona Scam front.
UPS Store
3941 Park Dr, Ste 20, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
http://www.theupsstorelocal.com/2681
(800) 257-8777
Appears to be a sham site, contructed to appear to be soliciting collections business, but in fact constructed to create the perception that they are "a debt collector that litigates", to unsophisticated consumers who might search on their name. Just broad generic boilerplate.
As the site does not even contain any mechanism to make payments, it is constructed solely for the perception it is designed to create. Payments from consumers would be arranged by phone.