You're going to be served

Had a call 2 days ago from a "process server" who said I was going to be served the next day and I asked "for what?" They gave me a number for some collection group and a case number. So I called it and they said I was to appear before a Judge for Credit Card fraud, I have no Credit Cards and this was for Capitol One, not my bank. The woman on the phone was insistent that they had all the evidence with which to convict and I told her basically No, you have nothing and that she was nothing but a scammer and she said see you in court and hung up. Then my sister called me and said they called her looking for me and then told her they had a case on her for BB&T, obviously a scare tactic scam. They had my name and the last four of my social and the address I lived at 2 years ago and my sisters number, pretty convincing except Nobody gets a heads up from a process server, they want to serve you by surprise. So far no one has shown up looking for me at my new address which from my experience is easily found by filing for the info at the Post Office, I've done it myself. I usually don't answer my phone but I was expecting a call and I was momentarily fooled/curious but just a heads up in case somebody here gets a similar call, cuss them out over your late pizza and hang up.

A few days ago I received an email stating that my PayPal account had been charged $369. The email header seemed to show that the email was actually from "service@paypal.com", so at first glance that looks legit. But I knew I had not charged $369 on PayPal, so I am still skeptical.

At the bottom of the email is this:

"Your purchase was accepeted and payment was processed. There is evidence that an unauthorized party accessed your PayPal account. Your account has been charged $369. 00 for the e-wallet credit purchase. This transaction will be reflected in the automatically debited amount on your activity after 24 hours. If you feel that you did not conduct this transaction correctly, please contact us immediately at 742-210-0396 or reach us for assistance. Our business hours are from 6:00 a. m. to 6:00 p. m. Pacific Time. Scammers use automated systems to make transactions. Only contact PayPal through the Contact details given above to contact Customer Service."

First clue, misspelling "accepted". PayPal would have caught that.

Second clue, I did a search on the phone number included and it doesn't show up as a PayPal phone number. The real PayPal phone number is an "888" toll free number.

Third clue, the admonition to only contact PayPal via the contact details in the email.

Fourth clue, the sketchy grammar.

So I ignore the warning to only contact them via the email contact information and instead went directly to "paypal.com". Logged into my legitimate PayPal account and found no evidence of a $369 charge of any kind, just as I suspected.

Caller ID doesn't show a person or business in my phone number list, I don't answer. They never leave a voice message because telemarketers calls are dialed by computers that are set to hang up if they hear a computer voice answer.

I would immediately put a freeze on my credit if they had that information. They were likely feeling you out to verify the authenticity of the info. Contact all three credit agencies right away and issue a fraud alert. It will mess up your automatic payments with everything and you'll have to set them up again, but they very well could be out there trying to use that information to establish a fraudulent loan somewhere.

You may also need to change your pin/passwords on email and with any financial institution because they could potentially use that info to call in and request a reset and obtain a temporary password.

this says its a scam https://www.onesourceprocess.com/how-to-spot-fake-or-fraudulent-process-servers/

also go to your city, county court side and search for your name. If it's real, there should be a court case listed on the site.

Well I'm not worried. The way the scam is supposed to work is they try to scare you with a perceived threat, in this case a court date. Then when you call the number they would offer you a way out by paying the supposed bill. I never let them get that far and her saying they had all the evidence they need for a conviction made me laugh out loud and her get testy because I wasn't falling for it. So no one showed up to serve me. No certified letter and my account is secure. I love playing with these peoples heads, I have told them that "while we've been talking I did a reverse lookup on your phone and I will soon have your exact address.. Click!" or "hey you have a sexy voice, you want to hook up with me and two other guys..." Click!.

@KRT_Bong

I had a call like this a few years ago. Voice mail left on my phone.

They weren't looking for me though, they were looking for my ex-wife.

I didn't know if it was legit or not though, I hadn't been in touch with her for 12-15 years at that point.

I was able get in touch with her father and sent him all the info so they could worry about it.

I didn't worry about these things much until someone filed a tax return on my wife's behalf(fake) and swapped addresses with another resident down the road, whom they also filed a false tax return on with a refund claim of 250k...

I mention this to a friend, KRT_Bong, and he said that if they were real or not, they still can't call your sister, relatives, friends, neighbors asking for your whereabouts and contact information and it's unlawful for them to discuss your court case and debts with anyone but you. Also if they call you at your job and you tell them to no longer contacting you there, they have to quit calling you there.

I do the same. I thought this was common sense but I know some people who pick up the phone regardless of what the caller ID says. **shrug**

Because of the work I do I occasionally get calls from unknown numbers and I usually would not answer one if I'm not expecting any calls but I was caught off guard and it sounded like it might be 'legit' and as I talked to them the bells were going off in my head that it was a scam. The tone of voice, the "we have everything we need to convict" line she tried (I started laughing at this point) and they obviously don't have any up to date information. My sister lives with my 84 year old mother and she says that mom keeps buying crap off of Facebook who knows what info she has unwittingly divulged. And the kicker is my own Bank wont issue me a credit card (even though they send me offers) and when I said that the only way I could get one was by secured credit the Lady, who said she represented a collection agency said WE offer that too, not Capitol One WE. So if you know what your rights are and what a legitimate bill collector is allowed to say it becomes clear what is going on.
I'm no Fool, No siree

My sisters answer calls that fool their own phone numbers to show on the caller ID.