866-509-8198

So Did I What did they say

The idea behind this website is for you to post your experience with the phone call.

I got a message at 9:45 am this morning looking for my son. said it was the office of Denise Hardy or to call that office. they were personal locator...Nationwide Mediators?  and they had been given a file with his name and social. a complaint was made against him. Gave a case # and said if he didn't call immediately, a process server would be coming out with a court summons. the call came from 888 823-7952, but said to call 866 509-8198. I DID call and it DID say office of Denise Hardy and someone else. SHE CALLED BACK.... I REALLY HOPE THIS IS NOT LEGIT

Me too. Any resolution?

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

They called and stated a supposed debt I owed that I never heard of make threats to take me to court but would not give any good valid information to go off of the got out of character with me and hung up the phone...and that time I know it wasn't real ....i called back after that and they refused to answer the phone. Then I guess they blocked me .....so please don't pay them or give them any of your personal information....

I hope you at least took the time to report them.  The links are right there.

Called saying that he was a locator and that he knew nothing just locating and call Denise Hardy at 8665098198. Glad and thank you all posted this info. The locater called from 8888237952. They are blocked numbers on my phone now.

Same exact thing happened to me today

I got a call too saying contact denise hardy, that if i didn't i would receive a subpoena to court. She said it was about a loan i took out ten years ago but couldn't remember taking out.  She said there was video of me but and to me we could settle out of court for$$ but when i called the bank they said there was no record of the loan and if they wanted $ they would've reached out not hire a company. Idk if its real or not but I've filed a incident report with my local police department. She said shed call back on Monday for $$  so we'll see i guess.

Read BigA's excellent post earlier in this thread about this SCAM.  BLOCK THEM!

Just waiting to see what they say or if they even call back, I  saw bigA post. Some really good information on there, ima hit them with a little of this if they do call back.  Ill let ya'll know how it goes if they do call back.

I got a phone call from a 888-823-7952 that I had a claim against me in litigation  to call asap other wise I would be summons with a court date they gave me a #of 1-866-509-8198  for a denise hardy I did call left a message eith only 1st name and phone number nothing else

Called me and left a message saying they were going to serve me at my address and they had my real address but said that I needed two forms of ID so they know they're serving the tight person lol that's not how that works I hope they call me again I'm gonna let him know I dont appreciate them having my personal info

Instead of telling them something they don't care about, why don't you instead follow BigA's excellent advice above?

Was very rude telling me to have my wife call and ask for Mrs Hardy
stating about a civil case these people need to quit calling cell phones
people are not dumb these things can be looked into and to call and say
there is a threatening action of any kind.The law says they must send you a
letter upon request stating what it is all about . But to be safe a person can
call there local courthouse and see if they have a pending action . These type
of people think they are so smart but pretty stupid when they call a investigators
house. Threatening people is a crime.

This is 100% a scam

I got a call from 888-823-7923 someone saying he was a locator working for Ms. Hardy. I needed to return the call immediately with a case #. No other info given. Today a message was left saying I'd be served with papers for mediation in the next 24 hours if I didn't return their phone call by the end of the day. I'm thankful you all shared your experiences. I hate scammers!!!