New phone scam (well, new to me)

I received a strange call at 8:30 this morning – the caller ID said "unavailable," so it went to voice mail. The message was garbled like a bad cell phone connection, but the caller said his name is "Dave Brown," "your name popped up," he was calling about a lawsuit, gave a claim number, said a restraining order was involved, our attorney had 48 hours to object and we had to appear in court within 48 hours. If we had any questions, he left a number: 570-983-0544.




At first, we suspected it was related to the trouble we've had of late with our next door neighbor harassing us because we have two special needs kids. But - there were several red flags - our names were never mentioned, the company associated with the claim number was never mentioned and the fact that a complaint or restraining order is served in person, you are never notified by phone.



I Googled the name and number and learned this is a debt collection scam by a company called Central Processing Services. They are a low-level collection agency that buy “old debts.” They were looking for my brother for a debt that was paid decades ago. It’s common practice with these “firms” to call family members or anyone else who may have contact information on the person they are looking for and sometimes even try to get the family member to give them money.



For fun, I called the number. They claim to be a law firm and answer the phone "litigation department." He pressed for my Social Security number and stated I could be in huge trouble in relation to this lawsuit if I didn't give him the number (LOL). When I pressed him for the court number or the name of the attorney at his "firm" handling the case, he admitted there was no lawsuit. I told him I work at a law firm and to forward any legal documents to my attention. With that, he immediately apologized and said he would remove my number from their call list.



I want to pass along some advice in case you ever receive one of these calls - don't answer the call, let them leave a message and write down all the info they leave, then report to the FTC, as well as the Illinois Attorney General Amy Madigan's office (or the attorney general for your state). The FTC and Attorney General usually end up shutting down these companies, but a few years later, another “company” will come up with another scam. I would also recommend if you receive a strange call from an unfamiliar number, Google it. If it is a scam, people are probably already talking about it online.