I was contacted by Jason James on Thursday, August 14 and was told that I was a felon and a bad person for writing bad checks. I was a little confused and was freaked out. He explained to me that if I did not go to Wal-Mart within 20 minutes and send $575.00 to him via Express Money Gram, that he was currently on the phone with the Sheriff's dept. And that they will be paying me a visit either at my place of employment or at home. He called my cell phone and left a message and called my sister and left a message telling her I was going to jail. Lucky I had thought about the phone call all the way to the bank, withdrew the money, and realized that I wasn't sending him anything. I don't know who he is or what the money was going for.
I did alot of research and realized that this man was violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Federal Privacy Act (I had a SMART friend tell me that). Not only did Mr. Jason James violate the FDCPA with threats, and misrepresentation of who he was, he violated the Privacy Act due to him calling and leaving such messages on my voicemails, answering machine, and with relatives. You CAN NOT leave collection calls to third parties in that manner.
I made phone calls to the Secretary of State, Attorney General Office, and Chamber of Commerce Office (here in Ohio). They all told me that not to send any money to anyone when asking for it in a rushed manner and through money grams. That should be first red flag. The Attorney General was the one that let me know that this company was plastered ALL over complaints. She informed me that the only way to send money is if I am sent a written notice as to whom the debt originally is with, the amount of debt, and an address to send payment. They also told me to NOT give them my address because if United Processing is a legit collection agency for someone they would already have my address.
Finally, I called the Jacksonville Sheriff's Dept. And spoke with an officer with the non-emergency crimes division. He took my complaint and will be turning it over to the Economic and International Crimes division to follow up and see what can be done. The officer also let me know that it would be wise to notify my local Sheriff's Dept. Just so a trail can be tracked of the complaint.
I have also notified an attorney to see what actions I have that I can file against United Processing for violating the FDCPA and Privacy Act Laws.
It is important to research these types of calls and do not let them scare you into paying this money. If they are a legit collection agency, all you need to ask is for them to send you something detailing the debt. If you get it fine, then you know who you owe and you can send a check or MO. If you get nothing then obviously you saved your money and didn't give it to SCAMMERS.
If you know that you owe a debt, try and contact the original debtor and ask them if this company is working for them as a collection agency. I will say that if company's are using United Processing for their collections department, I don't see many debts getting paid. This would be an embarrassment to the company and very unethical/illegal practices.
Look back for updates on this report about United Processing. I will continue my research and hopefully I can find an attorney within my city that would like to case on in court.
Hope
Xenia, Ohio
U.S.A.
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