888-397-1561

Joseph - Do they leave a message when they call you?  Do they identify themselves?  

I received a call from a New York phone number - the man would only say he was with the Process Serving Division (which is a common tactic for debit collectors these days), but I don't live in New York.  He instructed me to call the "issuing agency" that supposedly has a current summons & complaint against me, and he gave the 888-397-1561 number as the place to call to verify my address.  As far as I can tell, that number goes to a west coast office (CMS or something like that, which I could not find on Google).

So I just wondered what, if anything, they were saying when they call you.

hello i have been getting calls from a blocked number at both my cell and business phone. i never answer blocked numbers. just yesterday my brother received a call from this blocked number claiming to be an officer of the court and his name was officer Michael and that it involves a debt collection and he was threatening showing up to my job to arrest me and all this other crazy stuff, and left he jumber 1-888-397-1561 with an bogus acct number of 5561299-ca. i fell victim to this type of fraud 1 yr ago and bc i couldnt risk any disruption at work and i didnt know any better i paid on the spot $600. please help me stop these people from harrassing me and my family

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, is warning consumers to be on the alert for scam artists posing as debt collectors. It may be hard to tell the difference between a legitimate debt collector and a fake one. Sometimes a fake collector may even have some of your personal information, like a bank account number. A caller may be a fake debt collector if he:

is seeking payment on a debt for a loan you do not recognize;
refuses to give you a mailing address or phone number;
asks you for personal financial or sensitive information; or
exerts high pressure to try to scare you into paying, such as threatening to have you arrested or to report you to a law enforcement agency.

If you think that a caller may be a fake debt collector:
Ask the caller for his name, company, street address, and telephone number. Tell the caller that you refuse to discuss any debt until you get a written "validation notice." The notice must include the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor you owe, and your rights under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
If a caller refuses to give you all of this information, do not pay! Paying a fake debt collector will not always make them go away. They may make up another debt to try to get more money from you.

Stop speaking with the caller. If you have the caller's address, send a letter demanding that the caller stop contacting you, and keep a copy for your files. By law, real debt collectors must stop calling you if you ask them to in writing.

Do not give the caller personal financial or other sensitive information. Never give out or confirm personal financial or other sensitive information like your bank account, credit card, or Social Security number unless you know whom you're dealing with. Scam artists, like fake debt collectors, can use your information to commit identity theft – charging your existing credit cards, opening new credit card, checking, or savings accounts, writing fraudulent checks, or taking out loans in your name.

Contact your creditor. If the debt is legitimate – but you think the collector may not be – contact your creditor about the calls. Share the information you have about the suspicious calls and find out who, if anyone, the creditor has authorized to collect the debt.

Report the call. Contact the FTC and your state Attorney General's office with information about suspicious callers. Many states have their own debt collection laws in addition to the federal FDCPA. Your Attorney General's office can help you determine your rights under your state's law.>

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt076.shtm

I received a message yesterday from Officer Michaels from where I don't know but he left the same message on both my cell phone and work phone.  He said he has and FC100 which is a summons to appear in court and he has been unable to get in touch with me because they have an incorrect home address for me.  He asked that I contact the issuing agency at 888-397-1561 right away and give them my address and update my other information and to reference Case #5690324-CA.  He also said it's important that I do this right away because I wouldn't want to get a failure to appear.

Just so you know, I've lived in the same place for over 5 years.

Leeno - Yep.  Same here.  You message could have been the message I received, except in my case it was "Mr. Michaels."  (I guess he had not yet earned his "Officer" status.)  He said the same exact thing he said to you, except with a different case number.  The "issuing agency" phone number appears to lead to something like "the Office of CMS Recoveries."  No clue what that is.

Also be on the lookout for someone else calling from the same number that Mr./Officer Michaels calls from - this one's name is "Mr. Park."  He said he was with L.A. County Dispatch...except for the fact that he was calling from a New York number (just like Mr. Michaels was).  He gave the 888-397-1561 number as well.

These people give away an awful lot of info on voicemail when they don't know who they are even reaching - but the odd thing is that they never actually say what they are after.  Is it a debt?  What kind of debt?  Payday loan?  Credit card?  I have no clue.