Looking for money for magazines
Complaint
TK
Country: United States
Carol Patterson? What a joke! I was ALMOST SCAMMED! She also claimed to be a lawyer from NY. She knew I filed bankruptcy (HOW?) and when I tried to speak to her she wouldn't let me get a word in edge wise. This was also for magazines w/ Allied Publishing. I called my bankruptcy lawyer and he advised me not to give her any money, But I had already given her my credit card #, had to cancel it so she wouldn't get the 450 she claimed that I owed. I didn't want to have to pay over 2500 so i decided that I would pay that amount. Thank god I was quick to cancel the card. I feel soo dumb!! She wouldn't forward any paper work to me or my attorney b/c she said it illegal. She wouldn't even speak to my attorney. She keeps calling me at work and I filed a complaint with the attorney general office. PLEASE DO NOT LET HER PUSH YOU AROUND and file a complaint ASAP!!! If you didn't get it in writing it's a scam!! She is very rude!! And you know what? She talks to herself. She pretends that another person is in the office, but she only talks to herself like she is important.
Comments
I stumbled on this because I just received a post card with
Bayshore
PO Box 26896
Tamarac, FL 33321
CONGRATULATIONS WE HAVE FOR YOUR EARS ONLY
The pin number below will unlock the great news meant only for you
All you have to do is call the number below.
Time is running out so call today.
Call 800-259-1649 X603
Mention PIN Number: P201647
The whole reason for a "collection agency" to be partnered with a scam marketer is to maintain "plausible deniability" while they pressure the target, pretending they "believe" the "account information" is "accurate".
Notify the NY AG in writing about any lies and falsehoods in their response.
Regardless, if they know you will promptly contact any state AG, they will probably move on. They wouldn't be making stuff up and using threats so routinely if they actually sued. They are looking for easy suckers.
The magazines, real or non-existent, are just a prop in the con, to create the appearance of a "legal obligation" that they can claim the victim can't get out of.
This is a shakedown racket.
A few months ago I agreed to give them some money to stop collections. They called my place of business today and tried to get another $130 out of me. She threatened to file suit, and take my entire pay check. I kept telling her I knew it was a scam and that I was not sending any more money.
I told her that 716 had even called my mother and told her I had been in an accident and she needed to send money. She told me that was not true. I told her my mother would not make that up. She replied that she didn't think my mother made it up, but that I was making it up.
She told me I had one week to call her back with the money or she would send a sheriff to my work. I asked her for the phone number to speak with someone directly at 716. She said they would not talk to me but would refer me back to her. I told her I would only speak with 716 directly. She gave me a number and told me to ask for Kathy. Reading everything online it appears Kathy is the owner.
I looked up the address for both 716 and 2430 and it is a little house in Buffalo.
I called the AG in Buffalo and he knew exactly what I was talking about and urged me to fill out the online form and send it in. He said the file was thick but needed to be thicker to move it up the chain.
I am sending cease and desist letters (found a sample form online) to them. Let's see how well that works.
I've given them way too much money for magazines I have not gotten. When I told her I hadn't, she told me I was lying and she would verify with the Postmaster that I was getting them. I told her I was the Postmaster (I actually am) and she again told me I was lying.
So they actually tried to pull a classic "relative in trouble" phone con, as part of a "debt collection" shakedown?
NY AG, and the FBI, both have field offices in Buffalo.
Buffalo has a long history of fraudulent telemarketing.
"I've given them way too much money for magazines I have not gotten. "
Not delivering is what this con is all about. The same "missing" or "mixed up" magazines appear consistently back through the complaints for years. They aren't selling magazines, they are running a "termination fee" shakedown racket, trumping up what they claim you owe, screwing up the service, threatening you, so you will "agree" to pay them off about $300 to $400 just to go away.
Of course, once you pay them off, why should they go away? You've just shown them you are ripe for another round.
They are just a prop.
If supposedly you agreed to some offer, then they later claimed you agreed to a different offer, and demanded more money, that is fraud.
If they made any threats against you, that they cannot legally carry out, to coerce you into paying anything you did not agree to, that is fraud and extortion.
On any evidence of fraud, you file fraud complaints with FTC, your state Attorney General, the U.S. Postal Inspector (if they send bills, or were going to send magazines, through the U.S. Mail), and since they are in Buffalo NY, with the NY Attorney General.
Based on the fraud attempt, file fraud disputes through your bank to recover any payments made by credit or debit card, or drawn from your bank account. Block any card number they have, or close your account to prevent additional fraud if they have your account number.
Old "debt", so far back most people wouldn't have records, and supposedly $600 but will settle for $200.
At 7 years, it's probably OOS in most states as well, and about to or already past the 7.5 year FCRA reporting limit.
So who is this "Miller Davis and Peoples"?
They appear to have a website:
http://millerdavisandpeoples.com/About.html
Their website appears to be designed to make them look real "professional", supposedly "mediators" or "arbitrators", almost implying they are "attorneys" while being very careful to NOT actually say so. Mediation or dispute resolution is a common description used by debt collection shakedown rackets to imply possible legal action.
Lots of boilerplate, with little substance.
No address but a PO box.
What address (PO Box) did they give?
email contact is to some "adminstrator", which is strange..
What they are doing, demanding payment of some debt originally owed to another, is DEBT COLLECTION, yet their site says NOTHING about being a debt collector, or that any information will be use to collect a debt!
This is appears to be an "image" site, constructed for the perception it is intended to create with those who search on the name. It is not actually set up to promote or conduct business, and may actually be deceptive if they act as debt collectors. It is not aimed much at obtaining business clients, but more at convincing consumers that they supposedly "resolve disputes", which to the unsophisticated consumer, might sound like a "law firm".
Miller, Davis, and Peoples
P.O. Box 4146
Kenmore, NY 14217
Telephone: 888.364.4161
Fax: 716.877.8778
Fax number ties them to the Buffalo area, home of many debt collection shakedown rackets. In particular, there are several "magazine subscription" shakedown rackets, and related "debt collectors", operating out of the Buffalo area.
Here is what whois.com has to say:
Domain Name: MILLERDAVISANDPEOPLES.COM
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
Name Server: NS05.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS06.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientRenewProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 08-may-2012
Creation Date: 08-may-2012
Expiration Date: 08-may-2014
According to their website, they have been around since 2008, yet their website information suggests the domain name was first registered DAYS ago.
Google 888-364-4161 and all you get is some traces of other phone number searches, but no complaints yet. That also is consistent with the number just starting in use, just like the website.
Searching on the fax number is more productive:
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-716-877-8778
"holly
17 Jan 2011
Received an inquiry on an employee giving a File # and wanting her address and phone #. When I called their 888-243-6571 # back they gave me an email address of FrankMillerCompany@yahoo.com to email info to. I refused to provide the information without employee release, so I totally believe the email to be faked. the letterhead said Burton & Associates, but it looked faked, too.
Just wanting to advise to beware of giving out any info whatsoever, no matter who is asking. I passed this entire fax and their so-called email over to the employee to do with as she sees fit.
Caller: Burton & Associates
..."
Aliases:
Frank Miller (with a Yahoo email!)
Burton & Associates
And Burton & Associates links back to here.
https://complaintwire.org/complaint/NpkBAAAAA ... -give-me-a-name
https://complaintwire.org/complaint/YIkBAAAAA ... advice-services
Looks like you ARE dealing with the same people.
Same "old magazine subscription debt collection" game.
Looks like our old "friends" at "Allied Publishing" and 716, et al. are still at it.
Contact the New York Attorney General.
I havent received anything yet, but is there a way to stop all of this before they do? If they send a bill can I void it out and say "cancel"?
Im so confused, and scared my credit (that Im just starting to build!) is going to get ruined. The only info they have on me is my name and address. Nothing else yet, (like I said, they just started calling me).
Any help?
Until this week. A man who says he is 60 tracked me down at another office. He said he is an investigator in Illinois and wants to help me. He asked me who 716 is. I told him it was a fradulent company trying to extort money out of Americans. He told me that he had received notice in my office that I was to be subpoenaed to appear in court in New York and that it would cost me about $1000.
I then realized who he was. I asked him how I could help him today. He said, "Maam, I am a 60 year old man I'm getting around to it." I asked him how to spell his last name. He said I didn't need to know that. I again asked him how I could help him today and he replied that I had a decision I had to make. I told him that was fine, what number could I reach him at. He told me that his number would be on the subpoena. He then asked me who Justin Jones was (he lives with me). I said he was a friend. He then rattled off my ssn. I again said, "Sir. I am at work. You cannot call me here. Give me your phone number and I will call you back." He said, "I do not sit on the phone, here in the judges chambers." I then asked him how I was going to give him my decision. He started yelling at me and told me that he had already made the decision for me. I told him he could not do that. I told him he could not call me at work. I then hung up.
Two days later (today) he again called here and asked for me. I told him I was not here today could I relay a message. He said he was an investigator and I had forgotten to give him the phone number for my attorney. I asked him what number he would like to leave so I could relay the message. He said, "I do not sit at a desk on a phone waiting for people to call back." I said, "Alright. Then I will not pass on a message to her." He told me to have a blessed day.
He did call my friend Justin and told him that a warrant had been issued for his arrest because I had forged his name on some documents. He said that his car would be seized. (He knew what kind of car he had). Of course I did not know Justin when 716 started scamming me.
So, the cease and desist letters did not work.
They've used this "investigator from Illinios" act before. Also the "subpoenad to appear in court in New York". In fact when they called some consumer actually IN New York, they told him it was "court in Connecticut". It's always "somewhere else".
It's all an act.
If you were being "subpoenad", you would receive notice IN WRITING, which would identify the court.
They have no basis to sue you "in New York" when you are a consumer in some other state.
"He said, "I do not sit on the phone, here in the judges chambers." "
They've also used this "calling from the courthouse" act before.
"He told me to have a blessed day."
Again, similar language has been reported by others scammed.
"He did call my friend Justin and told him that a warrant had been issued for his arrest because I had forged his name on some documents. He said that his car would be seized. (He knew what kind of car he had). Of course I did not know Justin when 716 started scamming me."
They have also used this "forged name on documents" act. So which is it, sieze the car, or serve a warrant? It can't be both, some "criminal" case for "forgery", and also some "car seizure", for what, a "judgement". And how do YOU forge his name, on this "document" before you even knew him?
So he first tries to con you, then he tries to con your friend, using the old fake "id theft/forgery" con.
Bunch of made up BS. "Investigator", my a**.
But he is pulling skip-trace information, probably Accurint, and using it as part of a shakedown.
Check your credit reports and see if he has pulled one of them as well.
Your friend should do the same. You might have an FCRA case.
Shakedown you to "protect" your friend, or shakedown your friend, to "protect" you, it's an extortion racket either way,
Contact the New York Attorney General.
I'll cut to the chase, they ran the shuck-and-jive on me and I bit. $300 to save myself from a $1700 "lawsuit". The only reason I even went along with this whole mess is because I just went through a huge pain-in-the-ass settlement with a property management company and didn't want that whole headache either.
TAKE HEED! Don't be stupid like me. THIS IS A SCAM! I'm $300 poorer and learned my lesson.
They have a record of complaints suggesting they go back through their old fake "accounts" every few years and try another round. NO complaints report any actual lawsuit, or even any actual credit damage. They aren't some legitimate property management firm, and they don't use normal collection agencies, only "special" partners like 716 who know the game and how to pull it while still staying under the radar.
Pure BS phone shakedown con. As you found, fall for it or not, they will keep coming back for another bite, so it really doesn't matter whether you think you have "settled" something. It just labels you a sucker good for more.
See how this phony "account" became "$1700" then settled for $300. That's the game, phony ridiculous fake "debt", then make up a low amount to "settle" if you pay right now. Same con, just opposite from the original selling side of the scam.
They conned, defrauded, and extorted you. Immediately contact your bank to dispute the fraudulent charge, and block your card number or shut down your acount. Simplest way out is an AG complaint so they mark the "account", but don't be surprised if they pass this sh*t around for years, just like they already did with your "nonsubscription".
File a fraud complaint with the New York Attorney General.