The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, is warning consumers to be on the alert for scam artists posing as debt collectors. It may be hard to tell the difference between a legitimate debt collector and a fake one. Sometimes a fake collector may even have some of your personal information, like a bank account number. A caller may be a fake debt collector if he:

?is seeking payment on a debt for a loan you do not recognize;
?refuses to give you a mailing address or phone number;
?asks you for personal financial or sensitive information; or
?exerts high pressure to try to scare you into paying, such as threatening to have you arrested or to report you to a law enforcement agency.

If you think that a caller may be a fake debt collector:

?Ask the caller for his name, company, street address, and telephone number. Tell the caller that you refuse to discuss any debt until you get a written "validation notice." The notice must include the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor you owe, and your rights under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
If a caller refuses to give you all of this information, do not pay! Paying a fake debt collector will not always make them go away. They may make up another debt to try to get more money from you.?Stop speaking with the caller. If you have the caller's address, send a letter demanding that the caller stop contacting you, and keep a copy for your files. By law, real debt collectors must stop calling you if you ask them to in writing.
?Do not give the caller personal financial or other sensitive information. Never give out or confirm personal financial or other sensitive information like your bank account, credit card, or Social Security number unless you know whom you're dealing with. Scam artists, like fake debt collectors, can use your information to commit identity theft ? charging your existing credit cards, opening new credit card, checking, or savings accounts, writing fraudulent checks, or taking out loans in your name.
?Contact your creditor. If the debt is legitimate ? but you think the collector may not be ? contact your creditor about the calls. Share the information you have about the suspicious calls and find out who, if anyone, the creditor has authorized to collect the debt.
?Report the call. Contact the FTC and your state Attorney General's office with information about suspicious callers. Many states have their own debt collection laws in addition to the federal FDCPA. Your Attorney General's office can help you determine your rights under your state's law.

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0258-fake-debt-collectors

I called 855-298-4474 it's a recording. I left a massage not to call my number again or I would call police. The calls stopped for 3 weeks, and guess what I got another one yesterday. So today I will call the police, how can these low life scumbags be stopped???

I too am getting these harassing calls. Someone has all of my personal information (not sure exactly how) and within the last 6 months has opened 5 wireless accounts with Verizon, purchased 5 I-phones from the Apple store, took out 3 pay day loans with  Cash USA, Cash Net USA, and Plain Green. They have the funds wired to different bank accounts and withdraw the monies from other ATMs. The bills get mailed to a fictitious addresses and then the problems start for people like me. I have never taken out a load online and I have a credit score of 805...or did. I have never had a late payment for any credit card payment etc. I have had to change all of my bank accounts, and put a  fraud alert and freeze on my Credit Report.  I am paying about 30.00 a month for a monitoring service. I have  private detective on my case but it is very difficult to catch these individuals. I just recently started to get these harassing calls, about 5 a day, telling me that I will be served  at work etc and to call 855-298-4474 immediately. From what I can determine, some of these payday loan companies don't even check your credit  when issuing these loans and they simply write the losses off. I did read somewhere that they may even sell the personal information that was entered on-line. Do not return the calls and be aware of  creditors asking to verify if you are the person who has defaulted. That is often how they get what they need to do what they are doing to me. Its a sad sad world out there!!!

get repeated calls from this number all day. I am a receptionist & have no clue who the calls are for. I just tried to call them & have the number removed from their call list & was placed on terminal hold!

I am a private investigator.  I will have the location of the phone 855-298-4474 shortly.  My people inside the phone company are assisting me.  At that time I will have someone visit them at their office or home.

Kurt Nestor

I receive these calls on my cell phone, not my land line.  They have been calling for months and I keep blocking the many numbers they use.  I am now at the stage of message that is the same as the post by Karen describes.  I am so tired of these threatening calls and wish there was something we could do about it.  I have not, and will not, call the number they leave.  

Has anyone actually called the number left on the message?

I've been getting these phone calls for weeks, maybe months. They leave threatening messages to serve me papers at home & if I'm not here, they will escort someone to my place of employment to serve the papers.
It's a scam.

Today I got a call from these jokers but the message has become more determined and threatening.  Someone is scheduled to come to my home or office due to my lack of correspondence or neglect to handle my delinquent filing.  They hereby demand that I return their call immediately.  Otherwise I leave them no choice but to consider exercising their legal rights under my contract and under the laws of the state.

Gotta love these jokers - they keep calling my work number with this.  Again a scam but how many folks get taken by these folks.  Wish there was something that could be done about these bottom feeders.

I got the same exact message... this is a SCAM ... these people are trying to scare you to try and get some money from you... and get your debit and credit card info to charge over and over again to make some easy money.... 10/16/13

I got the exact same message?

I keep getting calls(about 4-5 times a day) from a local #615-858-0160. It's a recorded msg regarding 2 financial charges & a pending claim against me. Says they are from a local office & have been told to serve me papers at home & if I'm not here, they will escort someone to my place of employment to serve the papers. Then they say I have been legally notified. Today the # they left for me to call is 855-298-4474 & last week, it came from the same local #, it was the same message but a different voice & the # they said last week to call is 877-236-2549