888-441-3430

They called wanting to talk to my little brother, said he was a criminal defense lawyer and gave me a 6 digit summons ID. Said the incident was from when my brother worked at walmart, he never has. Said a cop was gonna show up to His home to serve summons paper which requires signature tomorrow?? We searched Google for Vincent Grekel and found this happened to other people dated back like a week ago, but it's under a diff 800 #. When I called back to ask a question the same [***] answered "Watson law" so they need to get their story straight. Vincent Grekel calls are scams

We just received the same call concerning my mother in law. The man got mad because we where asking questions trying to figure out what was going on. He got mad and said if you don’t tell me the truth I can’t help you in and angry manner and hung up.

Fake debt collection extortion scam.

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.

They will use the words “Mediator”, “Arbitrator”, “Law Office” or claim that they are a “Lawyer or Paralegal” 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, even though they do have to follow those laws.  They also tell you that if you fail to call them back you are "waiving your right to council" or that “the case will proceed without you” which is pretty much nothing but hogwash.  They tell you that they need a “statement” from you regarding the complaint and if you don’t call back they “wish you good luck as things unfold”. They use the phrase “consider yourself notified/served” or “govern yourself accordingly” a lot, something they should do themselves.  They claim they are officers of the court, or that an officer will accompany them, or even that they are sending officers to arrest you.  All hogwash.  They are now also claiming that they will be in an “orange vest” and they tell you to lock up your dogs and guns for “everyone’s” protection.  More hogwash.

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

I got a message to call the Watson law firm from my daughter in law where he call her told her it was important for me to call him .So when I call  I sayed I had a message to call  him this is the 1st thing that he sayed to me was ,if you're honest with me I can help you ,if you're not then I can't .Well he asked me if I worked at a place and I told him no I never he asked about a nother place than I ask him what that was and then he went back to the first question that he asked me  and I said no I've never worked there and he says well I'm sorry a good luck in court and hung up on me    2 minutes and 24 seconds was as long as we were on the phone

The same man called my daughter-in-law this morning  She asked him to send her documentation on what the case was on.He was telling her that I had worked at a place and that I had there checks going in my bank account  She assured him there was no way that there was any checks from that company go into my bank account because they didn't write checks they paid in cash Dan he told her if we would pay $336 that he would make the case go away she told him again to sand the documentation on the case.

I wanted to say on this post I hit the wrong call type it was scam suspicion

It’s a person running a scam they called my stepdad phone and said that I was supposed to be in court and I have a bench warrant. I called the number back and he was very rude sounded like he was fishing for information then he hung up on me. I called back and said you’re going to jail he then said you have to find me first [***]!! I was shocked he also calls from a 888-441/4905 number as well as 888/441/3430 I have reported this to police and homeland security.

Related story a week ago of angry lawyer impostor using a number in the same exchange: https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-441-4552

I'd agree this has the usual hallmarks of bogus debt collection, but there's also the odd recurring theme of interrogation regarding former employers and hinting at payroll check fraud. The complaints of blame 'n' shame calls don't mention old debts or payday loans like I'd expect. So I wonder if "Grekel" has hatched a new extortion premise based on (obviously false) criminal offenses.

Reading the posts made after I put that up does seem to muddy the waters a bit.  Maybe this nitwit is trying to run a couple of different scams at the same time?

So the other day I got a phone call from this person, he asked me to be honest with him and told me if you help me out if I was to pay a certain amount of money by next week, that he went on and asked if I used to work at this place and the people I need to work with me, after I got off the phone with him think starting to add up the at that time of the year I do not work at that place and those people did not work with me . So my husband called him the other day and start asking questions that he got very rude with him and then he asked for my email which I do not give to him so watch out for this guy