614-754-6731

This is an all too common scam.  The set-up is always the same: crooks posing as law enforcement officers, officers of the court, debt collectors, lawyers or bankers attempt to extort money from consumers with a myriad of false (and, thus illegal) threats.  The important thing to remember is that no debt collector, let alone crimimals posing as debt collectors, have the authority to arrest anyone for anything. Also, law enforcement officers aren't in the business of debt collections.

So if someone calls you claiming to be a "special agent" or "investigator" or "officer" and that they have filed "a civil complaint" in your county court (which, by the way, is nonsensical), or if they threaten you with arrest if you don't give them money, then you can rest assured that it's a scam.

A WhitePages.com reverse search shows that 614-754-6731 is a central Ohio Time-Warner landline that's unlisted. While it's possible that the call actually originated in Columbus, Ohio, my guess is that the number is a fake and was generated by Caller ID spoofing software and actually originated elsewhere.

By the way, there's a notorious debt collection that hides behind many names including "Litigation Consulting Service". Their method of operation is to target a victim with the same kind of threats that you received. Considering that the names of these scams are similar (the first report in this thread noted that the crooks used the name "Midwest Litigation Consultants"), that they make the same kind of false threats and that they once operated out of Cleveland, it may be worth your time to check out Bud Hibbs' report about Litigation Consulting Service for some background: http://budhibbs.com/debtcollectorpages/NAAIB.htm  And for your information, here are just a few 800Notes threads filled with complaints about the Litigation Consulting scam:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-240-696-1715
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-240-696-1777
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-240-235-0635

Even if there's no connection between the Litigation Consulting scam and the Midwest Litigation scam, the bottom line is the same: these are criminals attempting to steal your money. Ignore their illegal threats and report this call to all the following law enforcement agencies:

1) Alert the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  Be sure to tell the FBI that you are being targeted by extortionists over the phone (wire fraud is a federal crime), and that they posed as law enforcement.

2) The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for protecting the country's financial infrastructure and payment systems from international and domestic threats. Call or write your local Secret Service field office to alert them to the details of this attempted extortion. The addresses and phone numbers for the local Secret Service field offices are listed at http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml or in your phone book.

3) File a complaint with your local police. Most police departments will take a report over the phone.  Be sure to tell them that you're being targeted by an extortionist and give them all the details.

4) File a complaint your state's attorney general, the contact information for whom is at www.naag.org

5) Since the call appears to originate from Ohio, file a complaint with the Ohio Attorney General at 877-244-6446 or http://www.ag.state.oh.us/citizen/consumer/complaints.asp

6) File a complaint online with The Federal Trade Commission at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en

If these crooks call you again, promise them nothing and tell them nothing other than you know that they're a scam and that you have reported them to federal and state law enforcement.

Hope this helps.