hate to say it, but a worthless check is a criminal offense, and depending upon the amount, it could be a felony. You can wind up serving prison time, or spend up to 5 years on probation.

It is a civil matter in which the state statutes requires you to make, depending on the state, up to 3 attempts to contact the person who issued the check and make it right.

Some laws say once you make contact, the other party has 20 days to make the check right before you can file charges.

That is the civil part. You must allow the person uttering the instrument the chance to make it right. Once you do that, then it become a criminal matter.

Depending on whether or not you received a service or merchandise, you would be charged with uttering a worthless check or instrument, and larceny, theft of services, grand larceny, etc.

The caller may be a private investigator who works for a company that specializes in fraud. Normally, they call you looking for information on the real target. I got such a call today, and I know the target served six months in jail and 3 yrs of probation for writing a check under $1,000. And this person from this number called us looking for him. He is a relative of my wife.

So if they call you with a name you never heard of, chances are that person gave your number on the check when they cashed it. I told the person that the person they are looking for is a big man, over 50, lives on his own, and we are not responsible for any of his debts. Then I told him he's on probation for the same charge. He said thank you very much and hung up.

So if they sound like jerks, don't forget that they are given false information by people, and they have to deal with it. How knows, maybe someone stole your name and knew your phone number, wrote a starter check, and disappeared. Also, those mail-order check-ordering companies, I can make up a checking account number, put a bogus name and phone number, write a bunch of checks and blow out of town before the 20 days when it turns civil to criminal.

And I know private investigation companies with 200 employees and they have a worthless check department or fraud department.

That was my experience with this person today.

they are also calling from 202-827-0702... CHOP SHOPS IN JACKSONVILLE FL......CALL FLORIDA ATTORNEY  GENERAL

You are AWESOME!!  I hate these lying scumbags too and I was just starting to investigate this company and found your post.  What a lifesaver.  Thank you and good luck to you!  Please let me know if you would be willing to provide me with any additional info.

TO ANYONE WHO RECEIVES A CALL FROM THESE JERKS! You will know this is them because they use a "pseudo-lawyer" phrase "Govern yourself accordingly" and say they are from the "worthless check division". Give me a FU**KING BREAK! Number one: Non-payment of a debt is a CIVIL matter, not a criminal matter. It is not considered a "worthless check" or a "check" in any way. NICE TRY A-HOLES! Number two: You CANNOT be arrested for a CIVIL OFFENSE. Number three: Another name they go by is "White Collar Crime Investigators". The name says it all! AGAIN, IT IS NOT A CRIMINAL OFFENSE TO NOT PAY A DEBT OF ANY KIND. Their lack of knowledge of the FDCPA makes me want to kick them in the teeth! I know EXACTLY where these POS?s are. Below is their address:

Weinberg, Cochran, Coulson and Irwin
6050 Moncrief Road #3
Jacksonville, FL 32209
Owner: Lillie B. Sloan
Actual phone number 904-329-2681

If you look at their listing at www.lookupbook.com, Weinberg etal claim to be in the "medical alarm" business. This in itself shows you how shady these jerks really are. It took a lot of effort to find this info, so PLEASE USE IT!  I now even have the owner's personal phone number and address so my lawyer can have them served properly. They hire scumbags to do their dirty work. Ex-cons, crackheads etc. These people don't know the law so they just do whatever is necessary to get this fake "debt" paid. Probably funding their crack addictions. If they call again, feel free to say these things to them. As you probably know already they are a complete joke. They use illegal tactics to get people to pay for debts that don't exist. They were actually licensed to do collections but their license expired in December 2010. Therefore, what they are doing is a crime punishable by fines and/or jail time. They're all a bunch of C U Next Tuesdays and will be paying for what they've been doing very soon. I am calling the Florida Licensing Board and letting them know that these POS's are operating with an expired license. There is so much I could tell you about these a-holes but it would take too many pages! I have been researching them since January, when I got  my first call from them. They hadn?t called me since January and I thought I?d got rid of them but just last Friday I got a call from some bimbo, ?Elaina Cash?. I was going to let this go earlier in the year; too many people didn?t bother to even answer my posts about them so I figured, WHO CARES? But, they?re back. I should have taken care of it earlier when I first got all this info. Now,  I am going to make these jerks an example for every other low-down scumbag doing this and calling it a "job".  THEY ARE GOING DOWN! and I do not care if they read this cuz there is nothing they can do now! I have proof that they are operating with an expired license and it doesn't matter if they disband now because they have already done it! If you don't believe me, good luck to you and I hope they don't drain your bank accounts! Any doubts to your rights as an AMERICAN citizen regarding debt? Go to www.creditlaw.com and right there on the homepage you will find the basics of the FDCPA listed for your perusal. You'll notice that most of these have been violated by WCCI. DO NOT GIVE THEM ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY ARE THE CRIMINALS, NOT YOU!!!!!

Operator answers the phone Prosecution ... I've been this route so many times just wait until they try threating me with court and I threaten to sue for $1,000.00 allowed in Kansas for false collection.