I was contacted this morning on 6/2 by a woman identifying herself as "Jamie" who claimed she worked for a private processing servicing firm in Illinois who was ready to serve me with a summons for an unpaid payday loan taken out 2 years ago. She refused to give her phone number (the caller ID was blocked) but claimed that if I contacted a company called the Bureau of Check Services of NY, that I might be able to prevent the summons from going thru; otherwise the paperwork would go thru at 5 PM this evening and I would be served the next day.
I contacted the supposed company she reffered me to and talked to a Tom Wagner who said they would issue a cease and desist order if I worked something out with them before 5 PM EST. At first, he demanded the entire balance, then when he learned I had been "forcibly retired" during the 09 economic meltdown, he then reduced his demands to 2/3rds the amount, then attempted to workl out a payment schedule to pay the loan off in 2 months. The guy was a smooth talker and knew everything about me, including where I had worked and where I had banked. Fortunately, I did not give out any current banking info to this guy.
Suspecting a scam, I stalled him until the afternoon, and when I tried to get through using the phone number given me, I was always connected to an answering machine which wanted me to leave a message. I tried most of the afternoon to get thru but aslways had the same response.
Thinking that this was an odd way to run a financial company, I checked with the attorney general offices in both Illinois and Indiana and was told the company was a scam and to refuse to talk to them and under no circumstances to attempt to contact them. I was told this company (if it is a company) has tried to scam people on the West Coast in and in the Southwest in 2009 and is now working their scam using the phone and threats of legal action in the Midwest!
Anyone who gets contacted by a woman named "Jamie" threatening to send you a summons, and refers you to an outfit named Bureau of Check Services of NY at 877-296-7978 should beware of them and get in touch with the state's attorney general office.
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