99.99% sure this is a scam, but wouldn't mind a little peace of mind....

[tempteroffate]

So I got a call today from someone claiming to have a "sealed document" in their office under my name and ssn. The message informs me "be advised that a legal affidavit is a request to serve you to appear in court." They further muddle the message saying that it is for a pending lawsuit that is being filed against me. He claims that the "filing party has asked me to give you a Notice of Intent" and that it is my "legal opportunity to be heard on the matter." The message then gives me a number to call the "claimant" with a claim number.

Finally, he claims that they will "resolve the service tomorrow" and that they'll call me again tomorrow to confirm service. He also says that if I resolve with the claimant today that I should have them send him a formal cease and desist.

Hilarity above all hilarity, he closes his message with "Good luck to you."

Now I did a quick Google Search based on the phone number he provided me to call (he didn't leave one for himself, of course) and everything seems to indicate it is a scam of some sort.

I'm inclined to believe it's a scam and extremely disinclined to provide them any feedback by returning the call to the "claimant," but I wanted your opinion too. I've now been sued twice and have never had the process server call ahead with a "notice of intent." Based on the results of my Google Search, no one that ignored one of these messages was ever actually served or sued. So at minimum it would sound like I might have a FDCPA violations case against the mysterious claimant, right?

I don't know. It just feels hinky, ya know?

[admin]

Sounds scammy to me.

[tempteroffate]

Surprise surprise. No one showed up or called yesterday. Looks like my hunch was right. Total scam.

[tempteroffate]

Ahahaha!! Got another call today. This time they promised to come out to serve me tomorrow between 2pm and 5pm. This is just so unusual. I've never heard of process servers calling ahead like that.

Well, we'll just have to see if he shows up tomorrow. I'll let you all know what it's all about if he does.

Forgo to mention, that he'd left a message at my home the other day too and that the number he'd called from was from out of state. Wonder if he plans to do the service or has someone else on the ground.

[tempteroffate]

It just gets better and better. Call number three today from this con artist. Claims he's been by my home and place of employment (total BS as I was home all day Monday and I work in a secure facility that would have contacted me if there was someone at the gate trying to get in touch with me), but isn't sure he's got the right information so he's going to go by the post office for an update. Says he's going to try one more time and then send an affidavit of due diligence to the filing party. Love it, love it, love it.

The best and craziest part of this whole thing is that although he's left his name in the message, he's never provided me a means to contact him directly. He always leaves the phone number and claim number for the "claimant" so I can't contact him directly to help him serve the papers. He wants me to contact the JDB or CA and feed them info or a settlement so they'll send him a "formal cease and desist."

Ya gotta tell me, USCTrojanAlum.... have you ever heard of process servers working like this?!?!

It seems to me that this JDB/CA is trying to find a way around the FDCPA rules against threatening a lawsuit they don't intend to actually file. Instead, they have a "process server" call with a "Notice of Intent" and have the only contact information go back to the JDB/CA. If charged with the FDCPA violation, they can claim they certainly intended to file the lawsuit because they had given a process server the paperwork to serve. They can't help it if he didn't just serve the papers, but instead called the defendant and only provided their information as contact information, right? Seems sneaky and scummy to me.