Fake process server calls
Complaint
Quintin L King
Country: United States
I have received numerous calls from this "company", all of which start with a request for address verification for Process serving. Intimations that a law suit has been filed (the Company, to the best of my knowledge is in Florida, I live and own a business in Illinois). What process server doesn't have an address? These people call constantly and wont reveal the name of the entity for which they are collecting unless you "confirm" your address and last four of social. I am formally filing a complaint with the FTC and the Florida Dept of Financial Regulation, but wondered if anyone has had experience with these people?
Comments
Also, look for some indication of how they might have chosen to target you.
Since they are probably making use of illegally pulled credit reports, and buying those from the credit reporting agencies (CRAs) is one of their capabilities, consider the possibility that they might use credit file sources for initial targetting as well. Look for a "promotional" inquiry, possibly under another name, but most likely in the last couple months. These are the inquiries that show that the credit reporting agency sold your name and contact information to a client claiming they were making you a "firm offer of credit".
Creditors routinely buy such lists of consumers meedint particular criteria, good credit, even bad credit, depending on what market they want to target with credit offers. List buyers don't directly obtain all credit information, but could know that the consumer lists bought met a particular profile.
What do you know about your car purchase?
Is this from a dealer that might have pulled your credit report, perhaps to do dealer sold financing?
Are you in or near the state of Florida, or even near the part of Florida where this scam is located?
Was your loan application run through any company located near Florida, whether you ultimately financed through them?
(That might make an illegal back door sale of consumer credit information geographically possible.)
What companies did you apply for loans with, regardless of whether they ultimately financed the deal?
http://www.accurint.com/
Have you checked your credit reports for recent inquiries, including promotional inquiries?
Do you have any connection to Florida, where they are supposedly located?
This shill post is pretty typeical, attempting to portray the company and "debt" as "legitimate", extolling the benefits of "settling".
The shill practically sounds like a commercial, with all the "bullit points" they want to make included, like some scripted ad.
Shill posts are another factor pointing to probable fraudulent collection of faked "debt".
You checked, and found that there was no lawsuit.
They lied, violating FDCPA.
File complaints with FTC, your state Attorney General, and the Florida Attorney General.
It may be that they were initially targetting someone else with your name, at another address, and got you mixed up with them. This type of scam routinely uses skip-tracing to try to locate relatives, or old addresses they can weave into the script. It may be that they pulled the other person's credit report.
Keep notes on all contacts, and do NOT disclose any information. You will not "resolve" anything with a scam artist by giving them your information to show you aren't who they claim to be suing. All you will do is make yourself their new target, allowing them to use your actual information into their script, even pulling your credit report if they have not already done so.
All indications from other reports are that this is just a con.
Why don't you lead them along and see how many false statements you can get them to make? Play dumb and scared, but hesitant. Look for false claims to be "attorneys", to have been "sued", that they are various law enforcement or with the local DA, etc.
Check your credit reports, particularly Experian, to see if they have illegally pulled one. Look for attempts to con you into paying them for something that sounds like an old account. Check with any original creditor to confirm that their claim is a hoax.
Forward complaints to FTC.
This type of scam routinely calls employers, relatives, or neighbors even when they have the information to contact you directly.
It is a scam. Contacting neighbors is intended to panic you and convince you that it's a "process server" and that you have been "sued". They want you to "settle" this "lawsuit" without even any proof you owe them a dime.
It's a con.
Check your credit reports, since this type of scam usually pulls a credit report to get information on one of your old accounts to use in their script. Illegally obtaining credit reports for use in a fraudulent scheme is a criminal act under USC Title 18. They can also size you up to guess at what they can take you for, based on your credit card lines of credit.
Report this to FTC, your state Attorney General, and the Florida Attorney General.
It is starting to spread across the country, with new copycats showing up every month or so.
The Indian scammers are well publicized and easily recognized by weird agency names and thick accents, but this scam attempts to mimic some aspects of conventional debt collection, including access to credit reports.
SSN is proof of nothing.
Attempts to use SSN as "proof" in place of validation is an indicator of fraud.