american financila group ( collection???)
Complaint
Tee
Country: United States
Yes Hi, George.. I'm in MD & I was just contacted by a Todd Shaw ( supposed lawyer) and emailed some documents by a Tanya Jimenez? do that sound familiar to you? They were contacting saying that I have a pending lawsuit with M&T bank that they've tried to send mail to which they already had 3 of my addresses and Social number. An account from 2009 and i only had 2 weeks to give them the settlement money as opposed to the $2200 i was facing in court cost. I was so immediately frazzled that i gave them a prepaid card number to be charged in the next 2 weeks.I looked up the website and the company I found as well doesn't do collections. And I found the address( 8200 Wilshire blvd, Suite 400, Beverly hills, CA 90211) was to a company named Paramount Asset Management Corp. I just need to know what to do to find out if this is another fraud ?
Comments
http://www.8200wilshire.com/
Paramount Assets may be just the property owner, maybe also the "virtual office" management firm.
http://www.paramountassets.com/About-Us.php
Fourth floor looks like this:
http://www.8200wilshire.com/PDF/floorplan4.pdf
They say other floors are similar, a bunch of multipurpose office and conference rooms.
Although a number of alleged attorneys show up in Google using this address, it may be that they aren't "located" there, the legitimate ones only using them for their mail/receptionist/meeting purposes.
Similar "virtual office" sites have shown up as "addresses" (mail drops) of scams, notably as part of the M.O. of Canadian "business directory" shakedown scams, to help them to appear to be "legitimate" and "in the US" rather than the reality of Montreal, which would be a fraud tip-off.
In addition, it is common for foreign scams to use "American" in their names, for the same reason. When you are fabricating an appearance, you pay attention to what impression you create, since there is no substance behind it. What that means in profile terms is that you find multiple elements of the fabricated business persona aimed at creating the intended perception.
"Debt collection" shakedown scams also depend on creating "urgency" through the pretense of a "pending lawsuit" with trumped up "costs" if you don't "settle". When doing this, it is common to pretend that numerous "attempts to contact you" have failed, and that this is your "last chance to settle", cause "it's all your fault" even though you never heard of them and have no clue what this is about. Those tactics are aimed specifically at coercing you to "settle" with no proof of "debt", without adequately vetting them or their "claim", so the construction of that coercive device is itself a fraud indicator.
The claim that it will cost you "$2200 including court costs" if you don't "settle" now is just blatant deception, in violation of FDCPA, since they have no idea what some court will or will not award, or whether they would win, assuming they are even real "attorneys" capable of "suing". That alone makes this unlikely to be anything but fraud, as no real attorney would be stupid enough to say that, as it could subject them to FDCPA lawsuits and possible bar disciplinary action.
Profile suggests "fraudulent shakedown" for the reasons outlined above, combined with no proof of debt, no evidence that they actually exist, attempts to hide their identity and location, attempts to deceive, attempts to obtain payment through implied threats, etc.....
Name and information in the other complaints you found suggest they are operating as a typical So. Cal type scam debt collector, using the usual "process server" or "attorney filing a lawsuit" M.O. Other complaint suggests that the alleged "debt" was way past SOL, which may indicate they are buying real cheap old OOS paper, then using it as cover for shakedowns, but that profile often shows up with lots of "collection attempts" targetted at non-debtors.
Contact FTC.
Fraudulent "debt collection" scams often cross over to fraudulent "advance fee loan" scams, particularly when the scammers evade attempts to identify or locate them, or insist on payment by prepaid debit card.
http://www.afginc.com/
"Fraud Alert
American Financial Group has become aware of a fraudulent scheme whereby callers representing themselves as employees of “American Financial Group” are cold calling from local phone numbers and offering pre-approved fraudulent loans subject to a processing fee payable by a pre-paid debit card. American Financial Group is in no way connected to these callers. If you are contacted in this manner, please file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.ic3.gov) , a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).
..."
Ask them who this "American Financial Group" is, since you are in the process of filing fraud complaints with FTC and the CA AG?
When you file fraud complaints, include the US Postal Inspector, as they are hiding behind a mail drop.
Too many issues to even mention. Talk to an attorney and please, PLEASE, file a complaint with your local AG.
I once knew a person who responded to demanding phone calls from a debt collector about an account that they'd never had and, well, because it was *only* a hair over $300.00, they paid. So, those criminals are still out there, validated by their win, taking money that they have no right to.
If you do nothing else, don't do this again.
They just buy them from Accurint or Experian, whose "vetting processes" have already been shown to be inadequate to keep out scammers. Accurint claims they restrict access to first 5 digits of SSN, but you can punch in the last 4 and verify it's a match, so all they have to do is get last 4 (like from asking you, or some online source) and they just got all 9, fully verified against your name and address history. Security is a big joke.
Experian can't even stop id thieves from buying credit reports with stolen credit card numbers.
Having that proves NOTHING. It's not "validation".
Throwing it at you, as if it proves something, is a fraud indicator.
They've already shut down several clusters of similar scam collection agencies in southern California.
www.ftc.gov
Yes they are a scam and use fake made up names. Don't ask me how I know this but trust me I do. If you tell them stop the calls & desist the calls they should. DO NOT PAY THEM A DIME! They will threaten you will be served but it never happens and they move on.