For at least the last year, an illegal group of debt collectors have been terrorizing consumers, their family, friends, and employees threatening to arrest the individual of an unpaid loan or other debt (their generally don't even owe). Be aware debt is a civil matter, not a criminal matter, and you can't be arrested. They threaten a warrant if the victim does not pay a sum of money by the credit card over the phone.

Some of the people they are calling do not owe a debt.  Others they are calling have already settled their debt with the organization who owns the accounts. Even if you do owe a debt, do not be deceived by the actions of this group.  Many of the accounts they are attempting to collect they do not own.  In other words, if you pay these people, that is not going to clear your debt with its rightful owner.  

Although when pressed the callers give the victim an address in Columbia South Carolina (usually a vacant lot) or Atlanta GA (often a parking lot near the bus station or a Peachtree Road Address). They are actually out of the Charlotte North Carolina area. The scammers are using the following business names (and there are many others, and they seem to create new ones daily).  They will normally answer the call back number as ?Investigations?

Reynolds, Hill, and Associates
Berkley and Associates
Kaufmann and Associates
Sanderson Blaine & Associates
Blaine and Associates
McKenzie Reid Associates
Kennedy, Kline, & Associates
Nationwide Asset and Recovery
Piedmont Investigations and Procurement
Raffino, Garrison, & McCoy
Greenman, Schwartz & Associates
McCoy Law Group
Salem Associates
Reynolds and Associates
Ryan, Carter and Fields
Berman, Maxwell and associates
DOF Investigations
Vaughn & Associates
Bailey & Rowe


Here is a set of links to a variety of threads on this forum that document this group and its behavior. They include the experiences of victims as well as a former employee or two that quit within a week of finding out exactly what was going on. They also include responses from consumer advocates and people who are really criminal justice professionals advising victims of what to do

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-748-8367
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-719-1725
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-676-3492
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-805-5549
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-751-1084
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-803-2349
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-775-2417
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-775-2418
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-755-3417
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-746-3946
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-676-3485
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-966-3768
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-699-9749/2
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-966-6246
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-678-5437
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-967-0061
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-746-3948
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-791-2353
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-699-6246
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-735-8624
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-751-1083
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-736-3678/2
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-966-8529
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-967-2633
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-460-1576
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-609-3074
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-866-576-6210
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-601-5849
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-866-230-1283
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-658-0438
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-510-9327
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-509-0338
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-866-803-0755
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-511-0627
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-509-3033
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-509-0339
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-511-0631
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-866-883-2350/2
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-244-3381
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-512-0269
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-295-9550
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-966-6277
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-511-4248
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-725-5312
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-756-9997
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-512-1278
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-512-0531
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-512-0273
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-719-5041
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-791-9102
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-512-400-2637
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-585-730-6153
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-512-1712
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-800-657-1430
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-643-7815
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-860-3119
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-860-2973
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-831-4161
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-948-4460
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-704-764-6008
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-855-414-6205
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-919-275-3126
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-844-205-6998

I was contacted by this number today and several days before today, they even called my parents? house. So today I decided to called the number back, they called last week from 844-205-6998 and today from 855-722-7493 and left the same identical message
First a young lady ask was I contacted by sears, and I reply I don?t know by whom I am calling back to see what this is about. ?Red flag 1: It?s funny though as to why she would ask did someone called me from sears, and then begin to talk about (3) more allegations?, oh then something slipped out of her mouth and it didn?t have anything to do with sears. (Hummm weird to you weird to me too) She then ask me to hold while she checked with the attorney for the details of my case, but before she placed me on hold she told me I had (3) Fraud allegations pending against me. ?Red Flag 2: to me how would she know how many allegations were against me, if she had to concur with the attorney first.? She then placed me on hold to obtain the case notes, when she returned she asked me for the last four digits of my social number, and I said I will not answer any questions until she tell me what this is for and who it?s from. She said she couldn?t go any further until I tell her the last four digits of my social. But had no problem in telling me that there will be a warrant issued with the PG County to have me arrested, and I said go right ahead I will deal with it then. Then she wished me good luck
People, if a warrant is issued out in your name a letter will be mailed to the last good known current address that they have on file; if you still reside at this address you will receive your notification. They will not call you on the phone to inform you, this is a scam please do not adhere to these people, and they are changing their numbers quite frequently so be ALERT!

They left a robot message stating that they are "looking for a defendant" and named my wife. My wife called 844-205-6998 and a person claiming to be "investigator xxxxxx" accuses my wife of fraud and threatens to send the sheriff out to arrest her unless she provides a credit or debit card number (won't accept checks) to satisfy some debt of which we have no knowledge. I got on the phone and told this "investigator" to send us paper documentation of this debt. She said "don't yell at me."

They are calling threatening to throw me in jail if I don't pay an account that I've never had! This supposed account is jot on my credit report and I do not have any warrants for my arrest. There is also no court cases against me! Plus they will not tell me who to contact to straighten this out. Has anyone on here gotten anywhere with these people are they real???

The DNC list works fine for legitimate businesses. However, the problem here is simple. As you noted, these scumbags are con-artists and criminals. They have no problem breaking the law to steal money from people. Why would they obey the law involving the DNC list?

Called and asked for me by name but gave my sons information i.e. date of birth and last four of social and claimed that I was being sued. Threw me for a loop till I looked up the number on google. Tried calling back armed with this knowledge and of course could reach no one but an answering machine. I decided to play a little of my own and left a message saying I was a detective and gave them my number again so that we could straighten this out so now we will just wait and see.

Been calling for the last few months... Called friends and family also saying I would be arrested! Freaked me out till I looked up the number. Just block block them!

They called my husband and I and asked for "John". We have a grown son named John. It was a computer and they hung up. Didn't leave a number. But said something about fraud before disconnecting.   When I tried the number back, it just "clicks".  A friends daughter had a call like this on her mom's phone. ID'd themselves as a police officer and a bench warrant issued because she missed a car payment (one payment). And that a bench warrant was issued.  They left a name, and the police department main number.  She called, and found out it is a fraudulent scam, that is done by these "buy here pay here" car lots. She pressed charges. The PD investigated. They kept the messages, and provided cellphone records for when they called, and what number the call was made from.  It is a scam.

Legitimate process servers do not call to warn you, or to get money from you to stop the process.

Just block the calls.

I keep getting called by this number 844-205-6998

They keep saying its in regards to case number ####### and that if I don't show up to court in Texas I be arrested

just another debt collector trying to sound more "official" and trying to scare people.  

called the number back they stated they were from the fraud department but would not identify from what county or agency.. thought it seemed a bit fishy.. googled the number and got this site here. seems like I was not the only one they hit in the last 24 hours.

This is a scam, they call every day.  They.have called my wife and threaten to throw me in jail unless she pays these people are nothing more than scams

Saying they were investigating fraud.  Left another number 678-391-4357, Investigator Powell.

This is a debt collector scam where they pose as police officers, detectives and other official sounding agencies.  They often call wrong numbers and will not correct their mistakes.  In previous posts on this site for another number these people seem to be from down South and operate under multiple accounts.  Ignore them as the real law enforcement seems unable to find them ie The Do Not Call list is ineffective.