United Legal Investigation Bureau They called me saying I must make a payment today to avoid being arrested at work. City Name Does Not Appear New York

And why did you ever call Mr Creepy back? That made no sense. Why warn him?

After you have done what you were told to do by an FBI agent, then you should close that bank account & open a new account. And stop giving info to strangers over the phone. All comunications should be in writing.

You can be arrested for writing bad checks but not for owing someone money.... except for the IRS. Well, the IRS won't arrest you except for tax fraud, but then they can simply take everything.... But I digress.

Even the IRS won't call you- they send you a nice official letter. Every communication must be in writing to document a court proceeding. Verbal communications do not cut it.

I believe the FDCPA prohibits someone from telling you that they will arrest you unless you really can be arrested for the debt (i.e. a bounced check only) - but even bouncing check on a revolving account is usually not an arrestable offense - it's usually paying for something at the point of sale, but I digress.

CA has their own law that strengthens the FDCPA. I would contact a local attorney to determine your options about this company violating the law.

They called me Labor Day morning reading off there script that I "will be arrested" if I didn't pay. They were fishing for a victim to pay a non-existant pay-day loan. When I told the man from India that they had the wrong person (I have an excellent job and credit and do not need to take out a pay-day loan). He then started to reference my sexuality and what I "did" with my mother, who by the way is deceased, this set me off and I put him on speaker so that my wife could hear what he was saying. After a few minutes of this I couldn't take anymore and, from my other line, I call my local police department. While the officer was listening, he wanted me to put him on speaker so that he could Identify himself. When the officer identified himself the clown turned his vile filth to the officer (he clown must have thought I was joking with him). When he ran out of things to say he hung up, the officer asked me to come in and sign a complaint. When I got there the officer said that he also signed a complaint against this guy. Since the guy gave his "name" a warrant was issued for his arrest and we all know how the "boys in blue" stick together so I am sure that this will be investigated with a "fine tooth comb". We shall wait and see.

In the meantime, DO NOT EVER give your bank information to anyone over the phone. Also, you CAN NOT get arrested if you owe someone money!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't worry if this "company" calls you back, these clown are fun to play with - LOL.

Good Luck and don't worry, nobody will be knocking on your door looking to take you to jail - and if ANYONE does show up (I wonder how far they will go to carry out this farce) call you local police department to verify that the officers are real - DO NOT get in anyones car.

Keith

ABC news did a piece on this "company" and others like it They are frauds - do not talk to them nor pay them a dime You cannot be arrested for a debt I sued a company who threatened to have me arrested for a payday loan and I WON! Do not talk to these clowns - note all calls made and do not answer the phone

Like the previous poster said, you cannot be arrested in the US for a debt. You can however be sued in a court of law for monies owed. Always verify with the collector your name and correct address, nothing else, so you can recieve your court papers and date of hearing. If they win, usually a judgement is placed against you. Here in NY, in some counties judgement payments are made through the sheriffs department at a minimal payment of usually 50 dollars until judgement is satisfied. If you dont follow the court ordered payments they escalate it to bank account seizures and garnishments. BUT you definately dont go to jail. Threats like this on debts is against the law, and in most cases you can turn around and sue them for violating that law. There is a guy in Buffalo NY sueing a collection agency for issuing a collection notice for BMI Music to Mr. Ass**** , it was either on just the envelope, with his actual name on the letter inside or vis versa. Good luck with the police action and I would consult a Lawyer for possible civil action against them...you never know, they might end up OWING you money.!!!!

Chris

Lorraine,

The obvious solution here is to stay off the phone. Do not answer calls that you do not recognize on the caller id. If you do not have caller id, get it asap.

You cannot go to jail for any civil debt. This is just common sense. Are you a very young person? There is no debtor's prison.

It is a violation of FEDERAL LAW for any debt collector to threaten you with jail time. Even if they intend to press charges, although they cannot do so legally, it is still illegal to make that threat connected to any debt collection communication.

Furthermore, the FDCPA prohibits any third party collector from making any threat whatsoever that they are not willing and able to follow through on. They must have clear intent to take such action as lawsuit, garnishment, etc.. for them to even mention it.

But, all of this is irrelevant if you just stay off the phone.

**Now, here is the bad news, by giving this bottomfeeder your financial information and making a payment, you have legally affirmed the debt. Now, they can easily sue you and get a garnishment, whereas before, the debt was most likely legally uncollectable.

YOU made it legally collectable by making a payment and/or agreement to pay.

The FBI man obviously gave you incomplete, and bad advice, as he may not be proficient in debt collection matters.

Close that account immediately, and open a new one at a DIFFERENT BANK. Follow this procedure TODAY, or they WILL clean you out. Guaranteed.

And, remember, STAY OFF THE PHONE!!!

These people want to "surprise and frighten" you and that is the NUMBER ONE job and they obviously did it well!, so I hope that you will realize they prey on people and want them to be scared that way they get what they are after money.

They perfect way to stop them is do what the 2nd responder did, put on speaker and let police get their name , but one more thing works and you need to also RECORED Mr. Creepy as well after you get their name and where they work and a phone number. Then you can google their work and get their address and all of that.

Don't ever give out your work phone numbers , relatives etc. these people prey on surprise and EMOTION, so surprise the HECK out of them and stay CALM. Dont believe them when they say they're putting you in jail. Debtors prision went out ages ago unless it is fraud with the IRS/kgb i mean. lol

Good luck and keep us informed!!!!!

I am baffles that with all of the responses on here, not once has anyone said the most obvius thing ever.

This company is a figment of some credit thieves imagination.

The simple fact is if you believe that this a real comapany and you are worried, then they have suceeded. Please keep in mind that if this company were a real legal service they would not outsource to India. its not like they are Microsoft or something. REMEMBER never to confirm personal info over the phone. even when paying bills, especially debt, never give check or CC info over the phone. As a former banker and current federal accountant, any time you give finanical info over the phone you are authorizing a financial transaction. Even if you only authorize $20 the campany can take what they want. Don't believe me? Call your bank or ceridt companies fraud department. They will tell you they can't do anything because you gave out your financial info. The only way you stand a chance of being reimbursed is if you have a recording of the conversation. Still don't belive me? Check your bank and credit card security packet. The fine print is there for your reading please.

The lesson of today is don't allow yourself to be dupped. I understand the intimidation factor, but if you are that worried, tell them you will gladly pay your debt, but you require written confirmation of the debt and a written agreement for the debt repayment. AND NEVER give the info over the phone.

Good luck to everyone that is being harrassed by these tools.

ABC news did a story on these hackers - Just that HACKERS They stole information from payday loan sites and are using that to make some east cash by threatening jail, internet fraud etc etc Don't worry - this is just a scam