Sep 25, 2012
This past Friday I had received a rather unintelligible message from 440-399-2139. The person kept getting my name wrong and spoke with a very thick accent. He also said not to disregard the call as I was "under investigation by the State's Attorney's Office." The manner of speech sounded very rude and unprofessional so I had a feeling some sort of shakedown scheme was underway. This morning I got a message handed to me to call a Steven Jacobs at that phone number. In this case, I was very nervous because the message also read "Attorney Office." From my work location I can't make a direct long distance call, but was able to make an on-line search into that number and found out that it is a scam, generally affiliated with debts from on-line payday loans.
My investgation also showed thay claim to be with Clifford Law Office, a firm in Chicago, while the phone number is from the Cleveland/Akron area. I called the law firm and found out there have many many complaints about this fraudulent operation, but with their operations outside the U.S., there's not really any legal recourse, but please continue to file the necessary complaints and defintely disregard their messages; it is a shakedown scheme. I have already filed complaints with Clifford Law Office, so that they're aware of it and they are supportive of us, along with the Federal Trade Commission, and am in the process of filing a complaint with my state's office of the Attorney General. It would also be a good idea to report the matter with the credit agencies, as there may be some possible identity theft involved. I also called the front desk at my workplace so that I am informed of their attempts at harrassing me, but the front desk is also now aware that this whole thing is a scam.
Over a week earlier I had received a call at work from 855-846-4570 and the "attorneys" involved, Steven Clark and Raymond Scott, said a lawsuit was being filed against me, along with having criminal charges filed because of an unpaid payday loan debt. This is gut-wrenching when hearing it for the first time, but the immediate red flags were that everyone in the "legal department" spoke with very thick Indian accents. After doing another search with this number I discovered it is also a scam.