topic Re: Is this a scam? in General Credit Topics

Is this a scam?

comfortably_numb — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 23:55:46 GMT

I received a call from 888-709-7930 this afternoon. They identified themselves as the "paralegal processing center." I eventually got them to tell me they were Solace Group LLC. They claimed I owe money on a payday loan I took out in March, 2019 and unless I settled it with them, I'd be going to court.

I asked them to provide the name of the lender and they sent me the attached. I've never heard of "citycashloans." I had a couple of payday loans back in 2017 but they were discharged as part of a chapter 7 bankruptcy.

I told all this to the agent and she said "Ok well I'm going to be escalating your file and recommending your case for court so you should probably get an attorney."

Solace Group LLC is a real company, but I never took out this loan.

Kinda freaking me out...

Re: Is this a scam?

pizzadude — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 21:30:26 GMT

Almost certainly a scam, calling someone to demand immediate payment to forestall arrest, "legal action", etc... is a common tactic used.

Re: Is this a scam?

cashorcharge — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 21:31:49 GMT

Purely my guess based on what you've said....but I am curious since you mentioned you did take out some of those loans in 2017, I am thinking the debt may have been sold to another company. When you filed BK, you likely included the original lender(s) name and they were notified of your BK. However, if they sold the debt to another company, I am not certain that the notification of your BK is handed off to the new owner of the debt, therefore, not knowing you filed BK and coming after you. I would think if they do in fact take matters further, you would be able to provide paperwork from your BK that the debt was erased. I would "think" it would be on them to provide the documentation from the original debt and if their response is "We purchased this debt from X" the papertrail to the originator would begin.

Re: Is this a scam?

comfortably_numb — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 21:34:13 GMT

I offered to provide my BK discharge to her and she said "Obviously it wasn't included in your bankruptcy or we wouldn't be able to call you"

Re: Is this a scam?

comfortably_numb — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 21:35:49 GMT

They also had the correct last 4 digits of my SSN, my correct address and email

Re: Is this a scam?

FireMedic1 — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 21:44:27 GMT

Once your bankruptcy case is settled, the court issues a decree stating that your debtors can never again attempt to collect debts that were discharged by your debt. Once that decree is granted, your creditors can no longer legally sell the discharged debts. If a debtor contacts you in an attempt to collect a discharged debt, you should forward a copy of your discharge decree to the debtor. That should end any further contact, but if the creditor continues to bother you, you should consult your lawyer about taking court action.

Re: Is this a scam?

Remedios — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 21:54:15 GMT

It really sounds like you had a payday or personal loan from them, I don't think that part is a scam.

Confusing part is the amount. Payday loans have incredibly high APRs, so if it remained unpaid for two years, the amount should be higher unless you took out $100 or something like that.

You might want to look over your checking statements from 2019 and see what you deposited and from where.

Re: Is this a scam?

comfortably_numb — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 21:55:41 GMT

I'm positive I didn't, and I've never heard of City Cash Loans

Re: Is this a scam?

simplynoir — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 22:00:48 GMT

Have you checked over your reports to make sure there was a loan that was not opened without your knowledge?

Re: Is this a scam?

comfortably_numb — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 22:04:31 GMT

Yes. Trust me I monitor my credit like a hawk. I was obsessed with rebuilding my score after my BK

Re: Is this a scam?

simplynoir — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 22:16:01 GMT

I was thinking maybe it was a zombie debt collector from one of your discharged loans from your BK trying to collect but looking up the Mediation Group it looks like they are sus as heck. At this point I vote it's a scam. Scroll down to check out the person's experience with this group

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2014/07/debt-collector-real

Re: Is this a scam?

comfortably_numb — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 00:42:58 GMT

@simplynoir wrote:
I was thinking maybe it was a zombie debt collector from one of your discharged loans from your BK trying to collect but looking up the Mediation Group it looks like they are sus as heck. At this point I vote it's a scam. Scroll down to check out the person's experience with this group

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2014/07/debt-collector-real

Yeah, I saw that but I'm not sure it's the same group. I also thought it was weird that they wouldn't give me their address when asked. They also wouldn't tell me who the original creditor was or the specific dates. They said "citycashloans" is an "umbrella" for about 50 other payday loan companies including Advance America, Ace Cash Express, etc.

They said they'd "mail me a discovery packet" whatever that is

Re: Is this a scam?

FireMedic1 — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 22:23:46 GMT

Plot thickens. From City cash Loans:

THE OPERATOR OF THIS WEBSITE IS NOT A LENDER, and does not make loans or credit decisions. This Website does not constitute an offer or solicitation to lend. This site will forward the information you provided to one or several independent loan companies. Providing your information on this Website does not guarantee that you will be approved for a loan.

Ever seen this site? So they're a broker. Not the actual lender. Starting to smell a bit. Like Fish.

https://www.citycashloans.com/

So they list city cash loans on that form who they are collecting for but they arent lenders.

Re: Is this a scam?

comfortably_numb — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 22:47:00 GMT

A couple more interesting things the "supervisor" said when I spoke to her:

"I'm trying to help you settle this debt before it goes to court"

"I'm in court almost every day"

Why would someone from the debt collector's office be going to court?

When I asked her which attorney's office would be taking me to court, she said "It'll be in the county it happened in."

Re: Is this a scam?

comfortably_numb — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 22:48:24 GMT

This is the domain her email came from:

https://simplicitycollect.com/

Re: Is this a scam?

comfortably_numb — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 00:01:39 GMT

It also seems odd to me that they reference a Gmail address-

Re: Is this a scam?

FireMedic1 — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 22:56:07 GMT

@comfortably_numb wrote:
This is the domain her email came from:

https://simplicitycollect.com/

Tried that link:

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access this resource.

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Re: Is this a scam?

comfortably_numb — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 22:58:34 GMT

I googled "totalsolace@gmail.com" and it took me here: https://www.solacegroup.org/privacy-policy

Re: Is this a scam?

FireMedic1 — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 23:48:04 GMT

@comfortably_numb wrote:
It also seems odd to me that they reference a Gmail address-

One e-mail sends it. Respond to a different e-mail. See what this packet they will send you. Which will probably be nothing.

Re: Is this a scam?

FireMedic1 — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 23:02:21 GMT

Found this tidbit: As far as .biz and .info domains go, these can be bought very cheaply, and are popular among spammers. Google knows this and won't rank you as high in search results.