605-496-0503

Recieved a automated voice call from 605 496 0503 at work, they spoke my name and said I had been "Notified" if I want to avoid court to call them, they gave me a choice of being served at work or home.  THe call was initiated from Sioux Falls.  They tried to sound authoritive, big joke though, when people are suing you they never give you a heads-up, let alone of option of where you want to be served.  Ignore these calls, when people play the game by themselves it's no longer a game

I also just got a call from them, i did return the call and notified them I was under bankruptcy and whatever debt they are saying i owe is claimed in the bankruptcy, the person then told me i will have to go to court, i replied okay because i want them to continue calling me knowing I am under bankruptcy so they will have to pay me

Yep it's a boiler room operation.  Few things people should know:
- No process server would ever call you to tell you they are trying to serve you a summons.
- A phone call, and most especial a voice mail is not "Official Notification" of anything
- If you are being sued then the process server must give you the summons and other documentation in person
- A real process server is considered an officer of the court in most jurisdictions.  This is important because to impersonate an officer of the court is a crime.   So always ask the "process server" their name, address and license number.

Now Having said all that I did call the number and gave them the reference number.  They could tell me nothing about the debt they supposedly where collecting for.  Basic info like the original creditor, amount due, date of last payment was all unknown.   Yet they where pressuring me to "make a payment".  When I informed them that I would make no payments on an unverified debt they told me they where sending the "sheriff" to my work.  First of all most police do not serve summons for civil cases, the suing party has to arrange that through a process server.  Second it's a violation of the  FDCPA to threaten arrest for a debt.  We don;t have debtors prisons in the county and a debt is a civil matter not a criminal one.

At this point I was convinced this was not legitimate. I demanded their address so I could send letters demanding they stop calling and requesting proof of the debt.  They refused.  I demanded the Name of the company and their Collection License number for North Carolina.  They refused.  

Any reputable collection company would provide this data as failing to do so would stop any legal collection activity.  Basically even if I owed the debt, and I am sure I do not,  and they sued all I would have to do is walk in and say that they did not validated the debt and refused to provide identifying information about the company and the case would be dismissed.  

So why would they do this knowing it makes suing me all but impossible?  Answer is simple,  either they are fraudulently collecting on a legitimate debt. (Collecting without being engaged by the owner of the debt) or they are collecting on a debt that never existed.  

In the first case criminals use SSN's that they get from identity theft rings that have poor credit and are therefore not useful in a traditional ID theft scam of opening accounts and getting goods that can be covered into cash.  They then pull credit reports and look for old debts that are likely to have been charged off and attempt to collect on them using high pressure tactics.  Any money they collect is pocketed.  Not a bad con as the owners of the debt are not likely looking for any money and the debtor has bad credit and will not realize they were the victim of a con as after a few years the bad debt will just fall away.   Worse case in a few months if the debtor was looking for the debt to be removed they would end up calling the original creditor who would have no knowledge of a payment and would likely not be of much help to the debtor.   By then the con artist would have closed up shop and gone on their merry way.

In the second case the con artist just makes up fake debts and tries to get people to pay using high pressure tactics.  This con uses a big net,  they use an automated system to call a lot of people and collect a little bit form just a few.  They tend to be quick hit and  close up quickly.

In any case the best way to deal with these guys is to refuse to pay them.  Demand proof and demand it in writing.  Then validate the company and their status with the original creditor before you pay anything to any debt collector.   If they can validate the debt then report them to your local police.  Most likely nothing will happen,  but on the off chance that others reported it it might get someone looking into these scum bags.