716-245-5400

Weiredest thing that has ever happened to me... Some guy from Buffalo, Ny sent me a message on Facebook (a social networking site) and this is what it says:  i must have your old number, there is a man trying to rch you.....they said its important, i told them i dont know you.....but maybe you can stop the calls please.....7162455400....thats the number he told me to have you call

Okay so I respond and the end result is him sending me the first 3 digits of my social security number... Whot he heck are these people?

I received a call from this number.  Said they have important information about me,  confidential call. She said they have my social security number, bank info, etc.  They called my son and daughter and left a msg- they said there would be a summons for me at my work the next day if I don't pay a past due owed to a cash advance in 2008?!?!?  I asked for proof and they said they would send it(still haven't received it)  They said I had to give them a reloadable credit card number but they wouldn't take out the money until later ?!  I'm wondering if it's a scam to collect a lump sum for a supposed debt  and then hope someone later keeps loading the card and they use it?  I don't think the reloadable/green dot cards are traceable?

I received a call from this number today for my daughter.  They said she took out a "payday" loan in 2007?!  They had the routing number for her bank and past and present addresses.  Said she owed one amount but they would settle for much less if it was paid by 5/28 with a credit card.I would not give them any credit card info so they said to send  a prepaid card.  They gave me a mailing address in Amherst, NY.  What are these people up to?

Please keep us posted on your daughter's experience... it sounds so similar to mine.... do you think it's a scam?

I don't know what to think, really

Yeah, I got an anonymous voice mail from 716-254-5400 today. Just said I had been "named a person of interest" in an "ongoing investigation" and left a "case number". Then he said "You have been notified" and hung up. I think I'm going to ask my attorney to look into this. Doesn't sound right to me.

I received a call yesterday at my work saying that my name was linked with a JEC investigation and they need contact info on me and that since they left this message on a valid voicemail official notification has been satisfied.  They said it was regarding damages with a claim.  Sounds like a fishing expedition to me.

The bottom line is this, they are an unscrupulous Buffalo, NY collection agency that buys old debt for pennies on the dollar and will try to get you to pay.  They literally buy an old line of debt that a company has written it off.  EVEN if you paid the original company, if your name was listed as a write off, this collection agency will buy that "debt" (what is listed on your original file: name, phone numbers, references...) for literally a few pennies and use fear to coerce you into paying for hundreds if not thousands of dollars they claim you owe.

They are known for using language like "pending case," "person of interest," etc...  DO NOT let them scare you.  Most of the time the person you are dealing with has absolutely NO idea who the original debtor was and if you press them for information they will transfer you to the "attorney."  The said attorney is not.  They are just a closer trying to get you to pay whatever they talk you into to "settle" the case... which means a 1000% or higher return on the penny investment they bought your name for.

Ironically, if they were an actual law firm they would know that what they are doing IS ILLEGAL!

I had an experience quite to the contrary of what you are stating.  These people, whether they are collectors, lawyers, or what, they helped me resolve something that had been hanging over my head for years.  I had attempted to pay through the original creditor but they would accept no less than the full balance plus outrageous interest & penalties.  The attorney, at least he said i was, at JEC reduced the balance to less than i borrowed in the first place! He said he really didnt care how much i paid them because he was already paid a retainer by the creditor.....I cant speak for everybody but my experience with them was good. I actually googled them to try to find a message board directly to them to thank them but i found this instead. Just wanted to share my experience!

That may be, but are you sure that whatever funds you gave them went towards this debt? Have you contacted the original creditor to verify that they sold this debt to this JEC outfit? Did you verify that the payment was reported to the major credit bureaus (Transunion, Equifax and/or Experian) as having satisfied the debt?

I wouldn't take their word for it. Some years ago I had to deal with a collection agency that had bought the debt I owed to a credit card company for my father's medical bills. They came on like a ton of bricks at first and I told them to go to hell until they were willing to work with me. Eventually a real attorney called (and yes, I verified that) who had to power to make a deal. I also verified that his firm a. existed and b. was legitimate, before I gave them a single penny.

Truth is, I won't even bother to return a call to a "collection agency" (or whoever these people are) who won't even identify themselves as such on the phone, won't say what they're calling about, and act in an intimidating manner. I've had periods in my life where I had to deal with creditors and collection agencies, and the legit ones behave very differently ("person of interest in an ongoing investigation" indeed. Sheesh.) Furthermore, I don't have any debts hanging over my head at this point, so I can only think that they are either mistaken, or trying to pull something.

Just because you CAN get away with not paying, is it right to do so? Just wondering.

I live in buffalo and I have friends who have had out of basement "collection agency" they would buy like 10,000 accounts for a certian amout of money, maybe 1/200th of what was actually owed by the debt bought and anything made is basically just put into their own pockets so they make up alias or say they are attorneys and that they can have sheriffs come to your house. But the honest truth is that they will persway you into paying a debt that probally wont be taken off your credit and keep the money... I personally know people who work at JEC and they are very GOOD liars.... and the informatin they have about you is from the past account with your ssn#, name, address, credit card numbers, relatives, neighbors and maybe more and if it not in the summary they bought, they have special programs that WILL get the inquired information such as credit card statment and more. so if they bought the debt for 5,000 dollars or whatever and the debt amout owed is 500,000 dollars they are making very good money if they can collect it.

Same thing happened to me, i received a message saying i was under an ongoing,pending investigation because i was involved in check fraud! which had to do with apay day loan, i had in 2006. I filled for bankruptcy,& all of these debts were included. I told the lady to send me paperwork @ my house & info through my e-mail & she never sent anything. Called my lawyer & he said that if they bother me or call me again, to tell threm i will sue them for harrasing me, because by law they have no bussiness to contact me!!!! This is just insane

Received a message on my home voice mail. Person trying to sound very official said I was a "person of interest" in an investigation on Case #........... I checked on line and found all you other people who had been contacted with the same message. I called anyway to possibly head off any more calls and I told the person I knew they were a collection agency and I wanted to know why I was contacted. The person asked me if I knew a Tiffany........... I told them I did not know any Tiffanys and asked where she lived. The guy said he couldnt tell me that for security reasons. I then asked how he obtained my name and he said it was submitted by the investigators;  I asked who had given them my name and he said he couldnt say for security reasons. I said..."then quit calling me" and was waiting for his response when he disconnected.

I received this same message but the caller said her name was Ms Hodges, and I recived on from a man who didn't leave a name just a case number.  And told me I had been notified.  JEC Group must really need some money or think they are going to get some.

THEY ARE [***]! They cant and will NEVER EVER sue you. The person calling saying they are coming to your house is sitting right next to the "attorney" you are going to call back and speak with to try to get your fake summons dropped.  Dont fall for it. Please dont.

JEC Group is actually a part of a company called Northtown Capital. These guys are simply people who purchase debt and then try to scare you into paying.

It's almost funny reading their "About Us" section after experiencing on of their collector's calls.

http://www.northtowncap.com/Pages/Default.asp ... 28-eef267098fb5

This one clown actually tried to ask me if I was calling because charges were being pressed against me. I laughed and said that if he was really an "attorney" then he would know that threatening criminal prosecution in the process of collecting a debt is completely illegal..

DON'T FALL FOR IT. Treat them as you would any other collection agency..

I just received a phone call from a John West claiming he was a process server hired by a JEC Law Offices.  He was about 15 minutes away from my place of employment to serve me a court summons on a pay day loan that we had paid off years ago ~ stupid mistake.  I called the attorney a John Davis who went over everything with me and said that I could stop the serving of the summons by paying off the debt of 620.00.  I explained that I had paid that off and more when you think of the interest these people charge you and he claimed that the Company which hird them a First Financial Group which is one of the main firms that funds all of these pay day sites requested the amount and that I be served at work.  He had the CEO's name and he told me that the processes server was instructed to ask for the CEO and explain everyting to him and that he would give me the summons.  Well I put him on hold and quickly called our attorney's office and I was told to either pay it or suffer the embarassement of being served publically.  That these folks like to publically "serve" the person so that they are not only humiliated but almost forced to pay the amount requested to stop it.  Well I paid the 620.00 again and our attorney will go after them ~ but do not count on anything speedy because he has a few other clients at this time with the same problem.   Beware of Pay Day Loan Companies,....

Oh ya they really think they are going to get some money from you when you obviously didnt pay your old debt back as it was! HA you people are so scummy! pay your debt and then these people wont harass you! duh!!

I received a call from the people at this company before, and yes I did take out a pay day loan a year ago and it wasnt completely paid back. Obviously thats why I had these people call me in the first place. I figured that they were calling because I did owe this debt. I paid my balance--it was small and I made them provide me with a letter that said I paid it off and I submitted it to my CREDIT BUREAU so they could take it off my credit report. About a week later the debt didnt appear on my credit report so I never said a word about it. Im actually glad I paid it off because it helped me when my wife and I were trying to buy our first house.