Morgan & Associates Debt Collections Scam San Diego, California

My wife received a call from a person or persons that supposedly represented a Law Firm called Morgan and Associates.  The person she spoke to said that she owed money to a company represented by Morgan and Associates and that they would begin legal action if she did not pay immediately.  They went so far as to say that she would be arrested within 15 to 30 minutes if she did not send them the money.  We weren't even aware that we owed money to the company they listed.

My wife was terrified, and was about to make a partial payment on the amount they said we owed.  I stepped in and called them to make sure that everything was on the up and up.  They quickly reiterated their claim that if we did not give them the partial payment in the next 15 to 30 minutes my wife would be arrested.  I then asked if they had sent us anything in writing and they claimed they were under no obligation to send us anything in writing before they had my wife arrested.  That seemed odd to me, so I pressed for more information.  While they had a great deal of information about my wife they had no information on the previous legal steps they had taken to address the issue.

I began to ask more probing question, and when I did not get answers to the questions I asked, (ie. What was the date the debt was incurred, could they now send me any information in writing, why had she never received a summons, and the list goes on) I stated that we would pay them when we got information in writing, so they hung up.

I called the city police and asked what my options really were.  They sent a policeman to the house, and he informed me that my wife was not going to be arrested, but because they were on the other side of the country, there was little I could do about the harassment if indeed this was a legitimate claim.  He made it clear that they were at least unethical and if they did not actually represent a real claimant they were definitely criminal.  Finally, he said to only pay any debts we had through normal channels and not to respond to their threats.