844-316-0206

Yes! They called an old boyfriend I have not seen in 14 years to obtain personal information about me under the guise they had been trying to deliver an important package to me. He gave them my phone number and they left me a threatening voice mail which I am sending to the authorities! They claim to be employees of the courts and left a case number that is not in any of the court systems! I can only assume fraud at this point because I owe no one anything and do not commit crimes! What did they say to you or put on your voice mail Joan?

It's a scam. If they could find your ex-boyfriend's phone number, they could certainly find yours. Besides, real process servers don't call in advance.

Thank you Tygerkat!  Today they got ahold of my children's Father whom I have not seen in 30 years! Then I got a phone call from my Mother that they called her! I am not hard to find so why do they call all of your acquaintances at phone numbers they did not have when you last saw them! Too freaky so I filed a report with police and gave them the voice mails etc. so they could print them out! I have also put my credit on lockdown!

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 so that they can scare that person into paying extortion money.  They will usually also state information that would be illegal for a real debt collector to state to a third party such as that you are being sued, that you owe money to someone, etc. They threaten that if you do not call them back, they will contact your HR department and tell them that you are a deadbeat who does not pay their bills.  They often call people that have never even been associated with you because they get erroneous information off the internet.

The fake process server extortion attempt usually consists of the following:

They mention that they have received a Fax document or some sort of complaint and that there is a pending legal matter or action about to filed against you to create the sense of urgency.  They tell you that they are a “process server” and cannot give you the particulars of the case since the file is sealed. This is simply ruse to get you to call another number (often with a made-up case 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).  They threaten to serve you at home or at work.  They tell you that if they serve you at work then they will need a supervisor, security, or HR person there as a witness, hoping that will cause you to panic over the alleged embarrassment of being served at work.  They also tell you that you will need two forms of ID.  None of which is true.  Process servers do not ever call ahead so that you can dodge them.  Process servers get paid to serve papers, nothing else.  They certainly are not going to pass up a paycheck by telling you that you can avoid being served, they are not going to give you an extra day or even a few hours to get a “stop order”.  Court documents are time sensitive and must be served within a certain amount of time.  Remember that you can always call the local courthouse to see if there really is a lawsuit that has been filed against you.

It is incumbent upon them under the law to prove that the debt exists and that you owe it, and (this is the important part) that they have the legal right to collect it.  You are not obligated under the law to prove that you don’t owe or that it is paid.  

Federal law (FDCPA) requires them to send you a letter (US MAIL ONLY) postmarked within 5 days of their first contact that contains their name, physical address, the creditor’s name, and the amount of the alleged debt. It also must contains “mini-Miranda” telling you that it is an attempt to collect a debt and that all information will be used for those purposes.  The one other important thing that this letter must also have in it is that you have a right to dispute the debt within 30 days of receipt of the letter and if you do so, all collection activity must be stopped until the debt is verified.  If and when you get that letter you should immediately send that debt validation letter by certified, return receipt mail.

First, you should make a complaint at this Federal Agency, and while there you should also read up on how debt collection is supposed to work as well as what your rights in this matter are: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/

Also file complaints with the FTC: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#crnt&panel1-1

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

Received a call from this phone number today at work asking for my boss in regard to "legal matters" involving his son. They said that they had called my bosses cell phone number and left a voicemail about this "important message" which the man repeated about 4 times that it was "very important" the call be returned. So I passed the message onto my boss. He stated he had gotten a phone call very similar years prior, and that it was a scam, but called the number back to make sure. I was given a case # and told to "reference certified legal documents." When my boss called the number back, he was placed on hold for several minutes, and then a female picked up and said only "services." He asked what the message was in regard to, and if the message was for his son, why they had not called him directly, and instead called my boss's place of employment AND cell phone number in a matter of minutes. They advised they could not answer any questions as the info was for his son. My boss advised that he had an attorney on speed dial and that he would be reporting the incident (for scare factor) and they said "well that's fine." My boss told them to call his son themselves if it's so important, and they said "we have his # we will." The son has yet to hear anything from anyone. These people are scammers, and they try very hard to make themselves sound legitimate with "case numbers" and "please contact our firm" nonsense. There is no firm, don't be fooled!

This just happened to me too. A woman by the name "Elizabeth" said she was calling from United Career Services, in regards to "certified legal documents". She called my fiance, my job and my cell. When I questioned her she said she was a third party and could not go into any other details she gave me a case # and threatened me that if I don't call the number 1-844-316-0206 they'll proceed with whatever? She didn't sound legit and what she was saying made no sense. LOL

Said it was concerning my cars extended warranty. Called twice already today

This scam has been going on for years - I get calls about it every few - they called my kids when they were young and had my son (10) in tears telling them I was going to jail and if they wanted me home for the holidays, I needed to call before I was arrested. I finally called them back and they threatened to show up at my place of employment to arrest me for government fraud - I gave them my work hours and what I was wearing - never heard from them again until today - good luck arresting me, especially since I recently started working in a government office - if I had anything like that going on, I wouldn't have gotten this job considering the background checks they do.........really hope people don't fall for this again