Falsified Credit Card Statement

[Adam1973]

I recently received Complaint from attorneys of Cavalry SPV 1 containing a falsified credit card statement. The most glaring tip off is that the alleged monthly “account   summary” contains columns of figures with misaligned decimal points. Citibank statements would not contain this ham handed mistake. Otherwise the statement appears believable upon a cursory look. Any idea how to establish this seemingly obvious yet difficult to substantiate falsification?

[Adam1973]

I should also add the statement represents Cavalry's only justification for proving it's exact claim amount.  I highly doubt I'm the first to receive manufactured 'proof of claim' disguised as a legit account statement.  Other telltale signs of falsification are; mistakes in spacing, margins or other minor syntax errors, lack of any details difficult to forge (shapes and shading used in authentic statements), and no claim of purchases - they could easily be de bunked. The statement is a ready made tool to use as proof I owned the card, owe the debt, and it substantiates their claim for the exact amount claimed, including interest.  They even have 2 separate but different credit cards listed in the title!  Nonetheless, I have no original statement to offer in dispute.   

Despite the many inconsistencies and proof of manipulation, I'm not so sure that this statement won't be admitted as a 'reasonably reliable record'.  In my unqualified opinion, I need to find some validation that Citi or any other major bank doesn't spit out account statements without aligning decimal points from top to bottom of each column.  Check any statement you have and you'll find that any table with previous balance, payments, purchases, fees, etc show consistent position of decimal points in each column.  This is significant because it's apparently somewhat difficult to fake a statement and maintain perfectly aligned decimal points from top to bottom.  

I've been scouring the internet for some verification but have not found any info to validate this. Any comments or info would be greatly appreciated! 

[BV80]

@Adam1973

Could you please post a copy of the "account summary" with your personal information redacted?

[Adam1973]

Yes. thank you.  It may take me a bit to edit out identifying details but I will send by morning.  Thanks for responding!

[BV80]

5 minutes ago, Adam1973 said:

Yes. thank you.  It may take me a bit to edit out identifying details but I will send by morning.  Thanks for responding!

I was under the impression you were being sued.  If that's not the case, and the summary was sent to validate the debt, then the "summary" could be all that is required as long as it adds up to the amount for which they claim you owe.

But, we'll see when you post it.

[Adam1973]

Yes. I am being sued.  Since I brilliantly used my actual name, I've attached a similar questionable statement unrelated to my suit.  The yellowed statement was provided by a JDB and I don't think it authentic.  The account statement from my suit shows 2 decimal points misplaced, this just shows the Interest +$86.01 decimal point offset compared to the rest of the column.  This error is consistent with fake 'Citibank spreadsheet' templates I've found online.  Every suspect statement I've seen contains this error on the Interest line.  I've not found this error on any known authentic cc statement.  The white/blue $13,559.60 statement is an original authentic Citi statement, just not mine.

The decimal point error is not the only irregularity I've found, just one that seems should be provable.  My guess is that the true bank statements are populated without any hand typing.  The fake statement could only be entered by hand and thus subject to mistakes not found in an formatted excel spreadsheet.  

Also notice the spacing inconsistencies in the fake statement.  This is another trait of the fake statement.  I think the line spacing screw ups are caused by info on the left side of the page.  Without the actual bank statement format, it must be difficult to reproduce the entire page left to right without error.

Please let me know any thoughts, suggestions, or questions.  I can provide more info or better pics if needed. Thanks! 

[fisthardcheese]

Are you in small claims court?

[Adam1973]

No, the claim is for more than $10,000. Thanks

[fisthardcheese]

5 minutes ago, Adam1973 said:

No, the claim is for more than $10,000. Thanks

Then I would use that Citi Card Agreement and get this thing out of court and into private arbitration.  If the Citi account was opened prior to early 2016, I would get that previous card agreement that contained JAMS.

The link in my signature has all of the information regarding arbitration that you will find helpful.

[Adam1973]

Thanks I will certainly check out the link. The account was allegedly opened in 2003. I literally have no documentation including no contract. I sense the Plaintiff will readily settle this, but I feel compelled to dispute them on principal if nothing else. Granted I don’t want to lose ~$15k but I can’t stand their predatory and dishonest tactics. I’m planning to at least submit a motion to dismiss w/prejudice citing unclean hands. Win or lose, I’d like to give my 2 cents on principals of ‘equity’ that jdb undermine by falsifying evidence and preying on under represented defendant’s. Expertise in legal maneuvering and procedure shouldn’t be and isn’t foundation for any true justice or equity. I argue that they are undermining the integrity of the court and poisoning the ethicacy of the judicial process. I’ll save my rambling for the court to glance at and deny!

[fisthardcheese]

9 minutes ago, Adam1973 said:

Thanks I will certainly check out the link. The account was allegedly opened in 2003. I literally have no documentation including no contract. I sense the Plaintiff will readily settle this, but I feel compelled to dispute them on principal if nothing else. Granted I don’t want to lose ~$15k but I can’t stand their predatory and dishonest tactics. I’m planning to at least submit a motion to dismiss w/prejudice citing unclean hands. Win or lose, I’d like to give my 2 cents on principals of ‘equity’ that jdb undermine by falsifying evidence and preying on under represented defendant’s. Expertise in legal maneuvering and procedure shouldn’t be and isn’t foundation for any true justice or equity. I argue that they are undermining the integrity of the court and poisoning the ethicacy of the judicial process. I’ll save my rambling for the court to glance at and deny!

Just so you know, we - and especially the courts - have heard all of these arguments hundreds of times and they will not work. 

Citi Card Agreements can be found online.  If this were me, for the amount they allege is owed, I would not want to make ANY arguments in court on the merits of this case. I would ONLY want to make the argument that court is the wrong venue and that the parties should be ordered to arbitrate the issue in JAMS.  The courts will not be on your side with your current arguments.

[BV80]

12 minutes ago, Adam1973 said:

I’m planning to at least submit a motion to dismiss w/prejudice citing unclean hands.

Have you answered the complaint and requested discovery?

Depending upon your court rulings, engaging in litigation could cause you to waive your right to arbitrate.

[Harry Seaward]

What am I missing? If what you say is true, and you never opened, used or left unpaid the account, a simple affidavit made under penalty of perjury of this fact will end this lawsuit. 

As to the "falsified" Citi statement, that's a black and white printout of the digital version of the original statement. It's exactly what they sent me when I got sued by them, and every one of them matched to the original statements I received monthly. 

[LaneBlane]

I agree with Harry Seaward.

Printed statements can appear different than digital ones because the numbers are populated by formula fields.  The printed version has right-justified number column that caused one decimal to be out of alignment because the number 1 in $86.01 is narrower.

[Harry Seaward]

41 minutes ago, LaneBlane said:

Printed statements can appear different than digital ones because the numbers are populated by formula fields.

Exactly.  There is no requirement that the statement admitted into evidence be an exact replica of the original.  There is such a thing as "best evidence rule" that says they have to produce the best version of whatever evidence they have, but in a case where the only original copy of a document that ever existed was sent to the consumer, the court will give the plaintiff a lot of leeway with duplicates and photocopies.

[Adam1973]

Thanks for the info.  That is obviously not good news for me.  This certainly leaves the door open for Plaintiffs to create whatever they need to satisfy a burden proof.  If you think about, all they need is minimal proof that you owed somewhere around what they claim.  After this, they just slap together an account statement and claim it was photocopied. Ugh.  I appreciate the responses.  Very helpful info that I could not find elsewhere.

[LaneBlane]

Any collection agency is capable of fabricating whatever document they want.  Would they?  If they were ever caught in a court proceeding, I'd imagine anyone they sued in the future would have one heck of a defense to bring up.

If you would like to fight this, I would take fisthardcheese's advise and get this into arbitration.

 

[Goody_Ouchless]

12 hours ago, Adam1973 said:

 If you think about, all they need is minimal proof that you owed somewhere around what they claim.  After this, they just slap together an account statement and claim it was photocopied

Or maybe they just sue you for an account you decided not to pay? There is more than enough money to be made legally for them to waste one second on the conspiratorial nonsense you are proposing.

[Harry Seaward]

16 hours ago, Adam1973 said:

After this, they just slap together an account statement and claim it was photocopied.

Point us to ONE verifiable example of this happening. Ever.

(I started to say "in the last 10 years", but I don't think I've seen a legitimate case of it ever actually happening. Oh, there's lots of 'what's to stop them from doing it?  Hmmmmm????' But no actual cases where it really did.

The earth is round. We landed on the moon. 9/11 wasn't an inside job. And this is a legit debt.)

[BV80]

On 4/10/2018 at 10:48 PM, Adam1973 said:

 After this, they just slap together an account statement and claim it was photocopied. Ugh.  I appreciate the responses.

I must agree with the previous posts.   It's not necessary for a JDB to fabricate credit card statements because the documentation is too easy to get from the OC. 

[Goody_Ouchless]

11 hours ago, BV80 said:

It's not necessary for a JDB to fabricate credit card statements because the documentation is too easy to get from the OC. 

I think the paranoia runs deeper than just mocking up a missing piece of paperwork. These people think debt buyers find names and addresses in garbage cans and create a "debt" out of thin air. It's a disease.

 

[Seadragon]

On ‎4‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 11:46 AM, Harry Seaward said:

Point us to ONE verifiable example of this happening. Ever.

(I started to say "in the last 10 years", but I don't think I've seen a legitimate case of it ever actually happening. Oh, there's lots of 'what's to stop them from doing it?  Hmmmmm????' But no actual cases where it really did.

The earth is round. We landed on the moon. 9/11 wasn't an inside job. And this is a legit debt.)

https://fake-bank-statement-form.pdffiller.com/ and others that have similarities.

[Harry Seaward]

48 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

https://fake-bank-statement-form.pdffiller.com/ and others that have similarities.

Nobody needs a website to make a fake bank statement. Microsoft Word handles the job just fine. 

But the task was to direct us to a verifiable example of a debt buyer using a falsified bank statement in a lawsuit. 

[Seadragon]

On ‎4‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 5:27 PM, Harry Seaward said:

Nobody needs a website to make a fake bank statement. Microsoft Word handles the job just fine. 

But the task was to direct us to a verifiable example of a debt buyer using a falsified bank statement in a lawsuit. 

How can you do that if judges just gloss over evidence. and how would we be able to know since the removal of court reporters from the courts. It matters not nowadays. Just don't have credit cards I haven't had any in 15 years and I am happier for it. So I have time to help people at the task at hand which is helping them when they are sued out of the blue.

And I am glad to see that you agree it is so simple for the Debt collection industry to manufacture billing statements, we all know they have the necessary tools at their disposal so why wouldn't they do it? There is a big financial incentive for them to make their own billing statements,  they would have to otherwise pay more for than the original purchase of account information. You see that is the reason that they really do it. But I will search and get back to you. I bet if we look into the CFPB cases we could find some of these or maybe state AG actions.

"If you can imagine it happening it most likely already is." Seadragon 

[Harry Seaward]

50 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

we all know they have the necessary tools at their disposal so why wouldn't they do it?

Because it's highly illegal.  As in Federal Felony.

51 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

There is a big financial incentive for them to make their own billing statements

No, there isn't.  More than 95% of credit card lawsuits end in default judgment, wherein they don't need a shred of evidence to win.  The only time they would need an account statement would be the remaining 5% of the cases that fight back.  I'll bet in 75% of those cases, the defendant is represented by a lawyer.  They sure aren't going to try to pull a fake statement over on a lawyer.  So that leaves 1.25% of all debt collection lawsuits where they could potentially put a falsified a bank statement over on a pro se.  Then there's still the chance they could get caught, costing them millions in fines and possibly someone's liberty.  Where's the big financial incentive in that?  It just isn't worth the risk for them on the 1.25%, man.