I hear stupid people on my voice mail. A couple days ago, I got a voice mail message which sounds a lot like ones that the FBI has already dubbed as EXTORTION. http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/paydayloanscam_120710 MAY 3rd: 10:58 AM "Hello this is C______ M______ trying to contact ____________ in regards to a formal complaint filed against him this morning for several different matters. I'm calling to verify that we do have the correct address for this individual, the next step is filing necessary paperwork with ____________ County District Court. Now, at this time, he does have a legal right to contact the plaintiff, should he wish to exercise that right the plaintiff's phone number is 888-xxx-xxxx, he will also need to reference case number xxxxxx. At this time ____________ has officially been notified." No idea who the alleged plaintiff is, calling it from a pay phone gives you the hilarious message if you don't know the extension of the person you want to speak with, press zero to wait for the next available "legal assistant". But the call script has the stench of the "pay day loan" extortion scheme that the FTC and FBI has been cracking down on for the past several months. BTW: Many months ago, I received a similar call that I picked up on, when I was finally able to get an address and fax number of the alleged 'plaintiff' surprisingly I not only didn't get sued, I didn't even get a dunning notice for the alleged debt to know why they wanted to sue me, but it looks like another party wants to play.
BTW: Now that I know that the other game player is out of the way, I just printed out my 5 page lawsuit against them for amongst other things false threats of legal action, and impersonating legal process.
Hmmmmmmm... The "law firm" is so reputable, then why doesn't their manager want to give their physical address or fax number... I wonder how he would respond, if on my next call I say... "Based on legal advice from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, if your law firm is a legitimate law firm, which is not engaged in the act of extortion, then your law firm would have no problem providing your physical address or fax number." When they refuse to provide it, and are offended that they've been accused of wrong-doing... "I will be more than happy to call the Phoenix bureau of the FBI to come to your business address at ________________, Phoenix, AZ to resolve the matter of whether your law firm is a legitimate law firm or a fraudster engaged in an extortion scheme. They are less than 35 minutes from your offices, so if you want to expediently resolve this matter, without providing me with your physical address or fax number, that is the most expedient way to resolve this situation."
They haven't represented themselves as being a governmental entity, and they're required to notify you of their claim before filing a lawsuit in most jurisdictions, otherwise they can't collect attorney's fees. The formal complaint statement might be a violation, but it's the only thing that really sticks out.
txatty: Actually, there are many things, first off, the FBI has a press release outlaying that this is the M.O. of an extortion racket. If they were a LEGITIMATE law firm, they would comply with the FDCPA and within 5 days of the INITIAL COMMUNICATIONS provide the notice of the debt, and the rights under the FDCPA. They don't. They won't communicate via writing in any means. There is only one reason for them not to want to have the written record of the communications, because they are engaging in the illegal activities of extortion, and not legitimately attempting to collect a debt. If you are legitimately attempting to collect a debt, you have nothing to fear from writing a letter which is in 100% total and complete compliance with the Fair Debts Collection Practices Act.
