800-628-5962

My husband received a call from this number today. He called me at work to discuss the phone call. Husband told me that the caller was threatening to serve him with "papers" regarding a payday loan from 2015. I work as a debt collector for a reputable bank and am well versed on collections laws, specifically FDCPA and TCPA, so I called the number back on my lunch break. I explained to the agent that my husband received a phone call and that I wanted to potentially make a payment. The agent on the phone then listed off all of my husband's personal information including his social security number and the information for his now closed bank account that the "check" bounced from (including the account and routing number). The agent told me my husband would be charged with 3 counts of "fraud" if we did not pay promptly. I asked the agent if he was an attorney or worked at a law firm and he stated that he is a "paralegal".

After I let the agent speak for several minutes, I then told him I work as a debt collector and that he had violated FDCPA on two fronts during our call: 1) Threatening legal action to coerce someone to pay a debt; 2) Third party disclosure laws as he did not have my husband's verbal or written permission to release information to me (FDCPA is pretty clear that spouses are considered unauthorized third parties unless they are listed on the account, verbal permission is given on the same call to speak to the third party, or there is written authorization to release information to a specific person). I informed the agent that if any more attempts were made to contact us or collect on this "debt" that we would retain an attorney and file a complaint with the FTC. The agent said "we don't respond well to threats" and disconnected the call.

When calling this number a pre-recorded message says the number belongs to MGA Associates. After some research I believe this is the Mulholland Group & Associates (MGA)

DO NOT PAY THESE PEOPLE, EVEN IF YOU HAVE A PAYDAY LOAN IN DEFAULT OR COLLECTIONS
This is not a licensed debt collection agency or law firm as far as I can tell. You are under no obligation to pay them. They cannot arrest you over a debt. If they were going to serve you with legal papers, a summons, or subpoena they would do so in person with no prior warning, not over the phone.

Thank you for your expert advice!

My friend got a call from this number asking for me.

My friend got a call from 1-800-628-5962 about me and she said that I would be arrested in 48 hours.

My friend got a call from
1-800-628-5962 and left a message.the message was from a Sarah Woods.  I called but not for sure if they said nda & associates or mda & associates they

Whenever someone tells you that they are a "lawyer", the first question you should ask is what state(s) they are registered in and their BAR number for that/those state(s).  Then go to that state and check them out.  If they claim they are a paralegal, then ask them for the name and BAR number for the supervising attorney they are required to have.  Now for the rest of what you should know:

Criminals masquerading as debt collectors attempt to extort money from people by scaring you into believing that you will be criminally charged (they use the bad check or hot check claim a lot) and go to jail, lose your driver’s license, have wages garnished without actually being sued or going to court, be sued, and a variety of other variations on this, all for an alleged or nonexistent debt.  One of the tricks they use is to call your family, friends, neighbors and/or places of employment (past or present or both) to create panic and embarrassment so that their intended victim calls them and they can scare that person into paying their extortion money.  They will use the words “Mediator”, “Arbitrator”, or “Law Office” to make you believe that they are something other than a debt collector want-a-be and that they don’t have to follow Federal and State collection laws.  They do have to follow those laws, but they won’t.  They mention that they have received a Fax document, to create the sense of urgency.  They also tell you that if you fail to call them back you are "waiving your right to council", which is pretty much nothing but hogwash.  They also use the “process server” ruse who calls and claims he is going to serve you, but then says you could avoid it by calling another number where they will ask for money to “make it go away” (this is actually the same place, they work in teams, one pretending to be the server, and the other usually pretends to be a lawyer).  Process servers do not ever call ahead so that you can dodge them.  Process servers get paid to serve papers, nothing else.

If you feel you SSN has been compromised, in addition to putting a fraud alert at the 3 credit bureaus, you may want to notify the IRS.  Here is the link, fill out the proper form (probably 14039). Also file a report at the FTC Identity Theft web site as well as learn what else you need to do:
http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/How-Do-You-Rep ... aud-Activity%3F
https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/report-identity-theft

Read up on your rights here and also make a complaint at this government site:  http://www.consumerfinance.gov/

Also file a complaint with your State Attorney General's office.
List of State AG’s offices:   https://800notes.com/faq/attorney-general