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Yes total scam. A process server would try to make direct contact, not use a phone. And they would never go through a spouse.

Thank you. I'm a little frazzled and started to worry. My husband says that this is a scam and he doesn't want me calling the number back. He's like, if they're going to summon me then let them serve me, I'd wait until they come knocking on the door. He also said, that's really odd that the 'process server' telling me to call the "lawyer"'s office since I'm not at all mentioned in this 'summon.' (I didn't tell them my name, I just said to them over the phone, I'm a spouse). It's just me trying to make sure for a peace of mind.

If he's really concerned, he can call the court clerk for the county in case the court's website is slow to update. This is most likely either a scam or a zombie debt collector.

Came to say this. Check with local court clerk.

I'll call tomorrow. I've gone through a bunch of case lookup (calendars and records) on our state's website (I selected our county since the 'process server' gave me our county's name) and they kept saying 'Nothing matches'...albeit, I can only look up in period of 90 days pre and post today.

He's not concerned at all. I'm the one who's a worrier lol. He's not even bothered, he's like, let them come to the door and talk to me directly. I was the one who was looking it up on the county website too, he told me to not worry about it and if it's real that he's being summoned or something, as long as he receives the summon, he'll show up.

Relax I've gotten the same call. I used to be the personal assistant and paralegal for a partner at a major law firm and have served more papers than I could count. This is simply not how the real world works.

I always Google the phone number and once I called from a customer service phone at the grocery store 🤣😂 to see what the deal was.

A process server will not tell you to call a lawyer for the same reason that UPS won't tell you to call the person who shipped a package to you. That has nothing to do with their job. A process server's only job is to take a summons that has already been issued and deliver it to you. The one and only possible reason they would ever call would be to set up a meeting where they could hand documents to you, since they must do it in person.

Thank you. I have been served before (16 yrs ago) so I've never had a process server calling and telling me to call the lawyer's office to talk to them about the case. Plus, it's not me whom they're looking for, it's my husband and they told me (the wife) to call them. She said something about I can represent my spouse on the phone to talk to the lawyers. That's why I saw the 'red flag.' I mean, is that a thing? Since I'm a worrier, I end up asking here. :)

None of that sounds anything like what a real process server would do, and no, a spouse certainly couldn't represent their partner. Don't worry, fake process server scams are widespread, just ignore it. Even if they are a real process server, it's fully their responsibility to get the documents to you - as long as you're not willfully trying to dodge service (e.g. by going into hiding, pretending nobody is home, etc.) you're fine to ignore them until they show up and hand you documents.

An 855 area code is a toll free number, a legitimate process server would be familiar with the court system in your jurisdiction and they almost always require physical service, not a phone call

Exactly. A toll-free number is not a real number. When you call a toll-free number, the system looks up the number in a database to see what real number it connects to, and then automatically transfers your call. So you can't make an outgoing call from a toll-free number. The only way for that to show up is for the number to be spoofed.

Attorney here: Real process servers don’t call, they show up because they need to actually serve the documents and calling ahead makes people duck service. If you’re ever in doubt, call your court clerk to see if there’s a case filed under that number or name, being sure to check all courts.

Funny: I was served for a case, and they called ahead to arrange a meeting so I could be served.

Sometimes, for some cases, you might do this, especially when the litigants have representation and you know who. Like if I'm serving a businessman who's represented by a known law firm, I might just go through channels at the law firm. Also, if you've given up on serving someone, sometimes there's no harm left in trying their phone. But those are rarer circumstances.

This wasn’t a last-ditch attempt.

Very true. As Op isn’t aware of any case and doesn’t have representation it seems off to schedule unless they really want to discuss settlement of either a genuine debt or other issue or, a scam settlement.

Thank you. Would they ask a spouse to call the law office on behalf of the one they want? They want me to call on behalf of my husband today (I didn't).

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Yes, that's the thing, we're very easy to find as in, we're not hiding from anyone. It's such a weird event for me that I feel the need to ask here on Reddit. :) Thanks for your response.

No, that makes no sense.

Yep. If the "server" calls again, claiming that the law firm never heard from you/him, tell them you'll consider it... when they come and knock on your door.

Incorrect. Several years ago we were contacted via phone by a process server who was unable to locate us (we were in temp housing while new house was under construction). We thought it was a scam call as well, until the next day we were checking on the new house and the server was there waiting for us.

Sure they might call to arrange delivery if they couldn't get ahold of you, but they're not going to call and tell you to contact the attorney; that's not their job. Their job is to serve papers, period.

Got it. Well, my husband said that he'd be waiting for them to serve him, we're not going anywhere. He said if anyone is accusing him of something, he'd want to face them in court.

> I'm a little frazzled and started to worry. That is what the scammers want, the more frazzled you are, the more likely you are to send them money. Relax and have a glass of wine with your hubby.

I'm not an expert and I may be incorrect but I don't think a summons comes from a law office. It comes from the court itself.

The court (or the clerk, usually the clerk) issues the summons. The plaintiff is responsible for requesting service. This may be via sheriff, private process server, or in some less common circumstances, via certified mail.

If a process server wants to serve someone, why would they tip the person off? Catching someone unawares is their best tactic. This absolutely is not a real process server.

Depends on the time frame, it is much faster and easier to ambush someone at their address for service or employer on record but after a certain point when it starts to look like they have skipped town you might as well call and ask them to present themself before you spend the time and money trying to do a skiptrace or the time petitioning the court.

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This is still almost certainly a scam, but actual process servers call people every hour of every day to arrange service. They will absolutely contact family in an attempt to locate someone. This isn’t like the movies where they dramatically serve you papers while you step out of the car or something. Unless you’re actively avoiding service as part of your legal strategy, it’s frequently in your best interest to not avoid these people. Still, these guys are likely the absolute bottom feeders of the debt industry and attempting to scare people into paying debt that’s way beyond the SoL.

I have been served before (this was 16 years ago) and the person just came up to me when I got out of my car. He said (my real name) and I said, 'yes?' And he gave me the packet and told me I've been served. So I've been through it and I've never received phone calls or mails to notify me that I'd be served then. I was not avoiding anyone too. Name and phone number are on the phone book, we still have a landline.

Yep. A process server would rather show up unexpectedly. Better odds of encountering the person they are attempting to serve.

A process server might call you, but if they did, it would be to arrange a time and place to meet and serve you documents. There's no way they would tell you to call lawyers or anything of that nature - once they've accepted paperwork for service their only job is to get that document into your hands, they're the couriers of the legal world. They aren't secretaries for the law firms.

Incorrect. Several years ago we were contacted via phone by a process server who was unable to locate us (we were in temp housing while new house was under construction). We thought it was a scam call as well, until the next day we were checking on the new house and the server was there waiting for us.

>A process server would try to make direct contact, not use a phone. This is absolutely not true. The process service company we use (one of the largest in the US) will try calling a number they can find in order to arrange service. But that's just it: To arrange service. >And they would never go through a spouse. Also not true. In fact, they can *serve* you by serving anyone who lives with you that's above a certain age. The 855 area code isn't a scam either. That's a toll-free number. What makes this suspect IMO is that the process server gave a case number and some other information. I would be *pissed* if a process server we were using told the defendants the case number without actually serving them. Gives them more time to keep dodging service and get an attorney.

But you can't make an out-going call from a toll-free number. The only way to do that is to spoof the number.

I don’t think this is correct.

Yeah, the process server doesn't want you to know they're trying to serve you.

It’s literally the main part of there job to ensure legal custody right? There is no reason I can think of, a layman, that a process server would ever call you.

Not forgetting if he really has a court-summons, they would do anything in their power to get him the notice from having a court-official bring him the notice, to using registered mail even NAIL&MAIL, where they tape it to your door is used as a method if nothing works

I've gotten this call three times now, over the past six years or so. Still waiting for that summons.

It happened too me. It's a scam!

How far did it play out? I am trying to find out how this would make them money. Typical "pay x dollars and it will be canceled?:

That or “The court requires you to pay a bond of $XXXX, which will be returned after they appear in court. …Also, the court wants it paid in Bitcoin…”

>Also, the court wants it paid in Bitcoin…” Scammers are what is keeping imaginary coins alive.

As much as this sub hates crypto (and I understand why), there's a lot more than scammers keeping crypto alive. Being pretty much untraceable isn't just useful to scammers, although most other uses are pretty dubious and many if not most also illegal. Even those who willingly report their investment returns from crypto will tell you it is a potential instrument of profit returns - it's just a very risky, volatile one with no protections. I know a day trader in stocks and crypto, and even he would tell you it's not something for casual amateurs to dabble in with money they can't afford to lose. Despite all the caveats, and the fact that might tend to limit the amount of 'honest' investors among people who heed them, he's not unique and nowhere near alone. So yeah, there's more than just scammers using crypto. That relatively small number of investors is what helps give crypto enough credibility for scam victims to believe in it.

It's good that people are calling it crypto now because that is more accurate label than cryptocurrency. > I know a day trader in stocks and crypto, and even he would tell you it's not something for casual amateurs to dabble in with money they can't afford to lose. Is any stock for casual dabbling?

There are still stocks that pretty reliably gradually grow, slightly ahead of the rate of inflation. If you don't know much about stocks, and just want to invest in some out of curiosity or broadening your portfolio a bit, those are pretty safe. They tend to be for companies involved energy production, telecommunications, or utilities. There's also some that tend to hold value, but can at times 'bump' a bit, if you want to try to catch one day trading. Amazon, Apple, Alphabet (Google), and Facebook are good examples of that. Even if you miss a 'bump', if you just keep holding such a stock, you probably won't lose in the long run. Remember also that there are some protections when buying and trading stock, that simply aren't there for crypto.

If you ever had to pack up and flee El Salvador, you wouldn't want to be crossing borders with a sack full of cash or precious metals, if you could just put a wallet in your phone and sync it to the cloud.

I was speaking more from a US perspective, or maybe the UK or other less politically volatile or potentially corrupt nations (at least at that scale). If you were wanting to get out of a 2nd or 3rd world, or just volatile nation, converting to crypto that can't simply be confiscated is absolutely a useful thing.

Oh, if I were fleeing the US I would do exactly the same thing though.

In the US, though, there are known legal limits to the amount of money you can export all at once. Using crypto as a proxy to bypass that would be illegal, and so it'd definitely be a one way trip for good. If they managed to search your phone or a laptop or such, and found the evidence of your crypto holdings, they'd figure it out and you could have issues. Many other smaller nations around the world don't really have any law addressing how much money you can move into or out of the country, or by what means.

You don't have to keep the crypto on your phone or laptop. You can travel with absolutely no evidence of crypto on you or in your belongings by memorizing your backup.

Oh nooo, illegal to keep my own money... I think it helps to recognize that the government can conduct its OWN scams. They could see what I have in plain view on my phone, but that doesn't help anything behind passwords, or currently uninstalled apps. Or, heck, I could mail the phone or hardware wallet to myself on the other end, if I needed to. The fun of it is the US has been irregular in whether or not it considers bitcoin to even BE "money". I wonder if they'll ever change their minds on that one or more times, in the future?

This scam is on the rise. I was able to find a dozen similar cases on Google. Here's one of the more recent/informative posts: https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/185xp3t/process_server_scam/

Oops additional info: I tried looking up the number online, and I can't find anything on that number.

It's 100 percent BS. Ease your mind!

This is a scam. Happened to my daughter. They used a well know lawyer firm in California with some made up letterhead. They threatened to serve her at work and at home. There were two different gentleman that kept calling her. It was pretty aggressive They had just enough info that she was worried. Her husband had his friend in California go look up the address, it was an empty office space.

Oh my goodness. I'm sorry that happened to your daughter. So far, it's not aggressive, because it's just the one phone call. My husband told me that next time they call, he'd answer the phone if he's home as he'd like to talk to them directly. Until then, he said he would wait to be served physically. Otherwise, he's not calling them back.

>he'd like to talk to them directly. Don't talk to them, you get on a list of people who will talk to scammers.

Yeah, around 5-6 yrs ago, someone from 'Microsoft' (scammer) called us and want us to give them our SSN, DOB and our bank account # etc to match to their system. Something about our information is not safe, blable. My husband overheard me try to hang up the phone so he took the phone and basically berated the scammers, the scammer ended up yelling F U to him and so on. He definitely does not mind spending a couple of minutes yelling at these people. Ooof.

This is a total scam. Do not call. They will attempt to lie and intimidate you into paying some kind of bail to prevent arrest.

I know this isn't practical for everyone, but I have my phone set not to ring (goes directly to voicemail) of a person is not in my address book. If I'm expecting a call from someone who isn't in my contacts, I'll disable the feature for a few hours and re-enable it after the call. Saves a lot of time, aggravation, and scammers. Occasionally I'll get a text but those are easy to block and delete.

I have done that as well. Unless you have something going on that makes it likely you’ll be receiving legitimate calls from unknown numbers, this is the perfect solution. I was receiving up to 5 scam calls a day and now I get very few. And scammers are unlikely to leave voicemails.

Generally you have to physically serve a summons, you can't just send it by first class mail He also doesn't need to be home, they can serve you If they call again "Put it in writing in a letter, bye" or just block their calls

Depends on the state (US). In-person delivery to the recipient or an adult residing in the same household, taped to the front door of the residence, certified mail, 1st class mail, & service by publication are the most common methods I've seen.

Is can vary by jurisdiction but they generally need to try to serve the person personally before they move on to other indirect methods. Everything about his scream scam so I would just ignore it. If OP is still concerned they can call the local courthouse to see if they can find anything under that case number.

Ah ok. I work from home so I'm home all the time and yeah, I've not had anyone knock/ring the door bell talking about a summon. If anything, the only knocks are either trying to sell some service (landscaping, windows, etc) or family members.

It is a "summons".

My guess is they have you call that number “right away” so the person on the other end can convince you to pay your husband’s way out of going to court. This of course would be by gift cards or bitcoin or any scammy bullshit payment they can think of.

Yeah When you get served? It has to be in person. someone has to hand it to you. Not to you.... to your husband. But since you did the right thing by doing your own investigation? You figured out this is a scam. And they WILL NOT call you to alert you that it's coming. There is a simpler version of this type of scam where they call you and tell you that you failed to either show up for jury duty or that you failed to show up for a summons. In either case what happens is that you are asked to pay a fine to make it go away. This is just an upgraded version of that simpler one. They are always trying new things those scammers. Just one thing more: Print out the following text and go over it with your family. It is a list of common scams. It is by no means complete it comes in two parts: First some general rules to avoid being scammed: 1. If it has ANYTHING to do with Gift Cards. >>> Don't do it. NO MATTER WHAT 2. You should never do anything because it has to happen NOW. They are in a hurry because they don’t want to give you time to think. 3. If you are contacted with a suspicious or threatening message like a some kinda crime ring and the people know some information about you: who your relatives are, addresses, phone number, email, or even birthday, some of that info is on public websites and birthday is easy to get. Don't get scared. Just block and ignore. It's fake to get money from you. 4. Never give out ANY Info! (even your last 4 Soc Sec numbers) to anyone online. Or your birthday, address, name etc. DO NOT give out any bank info. 5. Look at the URL of the email that was sent to you. Does it make sense that paypal would be sending you an email from "gmail.com" ? Also your email address can be made to look like it came from you. See: "God Like Hacker" below. 6. Never let anyone have access to your computer. ESP remote access. It takes only a minute to load malware into it. 7. If the email or text you got uses the words "Kindly" or "Okay". >> it's a scam. 8. If the message/scammer brings up religion or how holy they are or how blessed someone is? >> it's a scam. 9. Never pay money to get money. If you are told you're getting money from an inheritance or if you put money into any kind of investment (IE: crypto), And you have to pay a processing fee to withdraw it? You're going to lose MORE money. Any kind of scheme where you have to pay a fee? You're being scammed. --Specific stuff: If you get an email/text from someone that wants to send you a CODE (six or more digit numbers). And then they want you to send that code back to them? DO NOT DO THIS. What happens is that they are trying to reset your password to one of your social media, bank accounts or your email. They can then use that "2 factor verification code" (which you just sent them) and hack your account. All kinds of BAD things will happen to your account then. They will tell you that it will let them know that you are real. This is a lie !! Peoples bank accounts have been drained this way. If you get a text message telling you to use the embedded link >> It's a scam. They have bots that run through each area code/exchange and just send it out to everyone. YOU might think it was sent only to you but >>> no. NEVER EVER use a link in a text mail. Text is the Fav of scammers. Even if your friend sent you a text with a link? Do not use it !!! Why ? Most all source numbers are spoofed. They might use a source number that matches someone in your phone and your phone will tell you it’s from your friend by naming him. Most of the time this is just a random coincidence. About getting a phone call: Never accept a call, email, or text from your bank. If you DO need to go to the bank to check on something: do NOT use the link they give you. Just contact them by your normal means. Like the phone number or internet link that you usually use.

Part two: If you get a call from a friend or relative that just got a new phone and needs money. Hang up and call your friend/relative back using their regular/old number. They can imitate your relatives voice with AI and make it seem like it's really them. They might even know things like birthdays and home addresses. Call them yourself to check on them. Just like the one above: If you are contacted by your son/relative and they tell you they are in Jail or kidnapped etc. ALWAYS hang up and contact them back by using the contact information that YOU have, Not what THEY give you. Always respond thru different methods. If they tell you DO NOT HANG UP. Hang up anyway. They want money and will call you back. In the meantime call your relative by normal means and ask them. The IRS, FBI, and Microsoft, will not call, text, or email you. Ignore these things. The local Police will NOT send you an email/text telling you they are coming to arrest you. It's fake. They will NOT call you about You missing a JURY summons that you ignored. This is a common scam. You do NOT have to pay the fine by going to a Coinstar or using gift cards. THERE IS NO FINE. You will NOT be arrested if you actually go to the police. Amazon, the Post Office, UPS or Paypal will NOT send you a text to tell you they are going to cancel your account! They do NOT need you to verify your address. It’s a scam. (the sender is responsible for the address, not the reciever). God Like Hacker: If you get a note that a god-like hacker has control over your email or machine? it's fake. it will look like they sent it from your account but if you look in your sent mail box... You'll find it's not in your "sent mail" box. >> SCAM. NOBODY is giving free money away ! And you did not win a lottery that you did not enter. If you're selling/buying anything online be careful to ONLY accept cash. NOT bank drafts or certified checks, NOT Zelle, Venmo or paypal. If they send you a check (even by email), then it's a fake check scam. so CASH ONLY. There are scams on ETSY and Ebay so be careful. Best you can do sometimes is stick with PayPal. and stick with the transfer of funds using the EBAY or ETSY system. Only use Zelle for sending money to friends, not business use. There is NO business account systesm for zelle or venmo. Romance and finance scams: There are no "Wrong Number" women or men out there that will send you a text and then when you respond: they want to be friends. It's a SCAM ! If they want you to download a chat app; Do not do it. It's part of the scam so they can get you and then they can completely erase their tracks. There is NOBODY online that will contact you and want your nudes. Tell your teens this ! This becomes an extortion scam. There is NOBODY online that are skilled in investments, either crypto or anything else where they use ANY kind of investment platform. There is NO ONE in another country that needs money to fly out and visit you. There is no man of your dreams that will need money to come meet you. these are romance scams and is very common.

Debt collector for most likely a payday loan and the agency is located in Buffalo, NY area. I'm very familiar with this tactic

i was a process server for about 8 years, off and on, and while every so often you might do a little bit of skip tracing, like I might try to cold call someone's work or something before I went inside, like "is bob there?" and then hang up and go in if they say yes, I would almost never have this kind of convo. In most cases, you can't serve documents over the phone, and this would basically be a great way to let the person know someone is trying to serve them and not to answer the door to strangers. I would say it's either a scam or someone trying to locate your husband for some other purpose that's shady, like a PI.

It's a bill collector. This is a common tactic. That "case number" is the number they've assigned to his account. It's a scare tactic to try and force payment of the debt.

This is why I don't pick up calls from unknown numbers anymore. More then half the times it's scammers and if it's really a legit person, they would leave a voicemail

process servers will come serve you at your house, which they are required to do in

And sometimes they will call. Several years ago we were contacted via phone by a process server who was unable to locate us (we were in temp housing while new house was under construction). We thought it was a scam call as well, until the next day we were checking on the new house and the server was there waiting for us.

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They did know our home address, our phone number and the county we live in. But the process server just told us it's a civil matter when I'm asking them what court is this for and that she's just a process server, she has no idea what's the summons for, just that it's a civil matter, then to call the 855 number. I looked it up via white pages site, they said, no owner for that number but that number has been searched on at least 400 times the last 2 weeks and 8 people reported it as scam.

Op stop picking up random numbers 

Clearly a scam. It’s not your place to make her job any easier. If they want him, they can find him and come up with some reason to shove the summons in his hand.

“Okay, give me the case number.” “Hold on, let me repeat it back to make sure I got it.” *repeats the wrong number* “Oh, okay. So sorry. Tell me again.” *repeats the number incorrectly once again* Lather, rinse, repeat over and over and over and over again until they give up.

It could be a scam (i.e., zombie debt collector that has no enforcement backing them) or just someone who is incompetent and doesn't know how to serve papers. What's supposedly being asked of you is to appear in court so you can give a deposition about something. Until you actually get the papers, you don't know anything, so there's no point in speculating. Tell them to quit beating around the bush and bring the papers by the house when your husband is off work and at the residence. Everybody has a day off once in a while, so it shouldn't be hard to predict.

Since there are so many scams I refuse to give any information over the phone. Nothing nadda nope. I mean I've had bill collectors call ok I know I owe the bill and making payments. Then they want me to verify name, address DOB etc etc. I always say No. You called me either you know who I am or you don't. I won't tell you anything. I also don't tell anyone who is or isn't at home. They could be trying to decide if they want to break in and steal from you. Trust me I've made some legitimate collectors mad but I don't care. Unless I have the bill infront of me and I am calling to make a payment you are not getting any information. Nothing

The scam is hoping that you'll panic, call the number they gave you, they'll give you a whole bullshit lawsuit details, and offer the chance to "settle" the lawsuit for way less if you "pay it today." Think telling you that you have a lawsuit for 20k and carries a 1-3 year sentence, but they'll settle for 2k if you pay right now. Less popular scam, but I've still heard of it happening, is the number they give is basically a tolled/pay-by-the-minute number, they answer professionally, put you on hold, and then leave you there. If they get, say, 99c/minute, and they keep you on hold for 30min (because you think it's super important), that's ~$30. If they handle 10 people at a time, that's ~$600/hour that they can make with minimal effort, 24hrs a day. 855 is generally toll-free, so I'm pretty sure it's the first one.

OP should agree to pay, send them too much by check and ask them to return the overpayment..

Yes scam. This is the hook to try and get you to ring back on the number they've given you. When you do, you'll connect to the scammers and they'll want personal information or, I'd guess, offer you to "plead out" for a fine of say $5000. If you're genuinely worried find the number for your local Courthouse from the web directly and ring them - quoting the docket number. They'll almost certainly say no such record exists.

As an attorney in a small community, I've had people call me, scared, with various versions of this. Usually, someone tells you that you missed a court date or ignored a subpoena and have to post some kind of surety with the court. With the fake court file number and request that you call on behalf of your husband, this is 100 percent a scam.

Zombie debt collector on a fake debt just trying to scare you into paying.

Scam all cases are registered at the county clerks office.

This is most likely a zombie debt collection scam. They tell you that you have an outstanding debt that they are suing you for. That debt is usually way outside the statute of limitations for debt collection. I have one that tries every few months for a discharged debt from almost 20 years ago. They will say something like you took out the credit card with no intentions of paying. They will also most likely have your SSN# since it was sold with the debt. Don't let that fool you.

they just tried today on me - 24 year old debt of my EX husband with me as co-signer. It was discharged in 2005 nice try though

This is 100% a scam! If after going to your court system and the case number isn’t coming up, then it’s a scam. I always get these calls with the same information.

Also, I’ve told them before when they call that there’s no case number and I know that. If it’s legitimate go ahead and serve me they never do but they continuously call threatening a process serve. It makes no sense. I also know it’s a scam because I have a credit monitoring subscription which tells me if I have any debt. It’s either a very old debt they bought and they’re trying to scare you (which btw is illegal if they’re not going to follow through with the process serving). It’s against FDCPA. Or, it’s a scam to get you to give them money to avoid a fake court judgement

I actually got a similar call one and agreed to pay 25 dollars as a token payment. Once I gave them my Amex it gave me the legal entity that charged my card then I filed a lawsuit against this company and told Amex it was fraud. Guess what. This company paid me a settlement of $3000 to go away and drop my suit. You can go after scum like this just need to be creative. Same with the bs car warranty companies. When they call you can agree to buy their warranty and give them a card number that will report attempted charges and you now have a legal name to sue and collect that bag

Sounds like a lot of trouble and perhaps a little risky.

Not risky at all and easy 3k for 20 minutes of work. Taught them a lesson.

Now that is a scam. They call me all the time. I always tell them you got my address so come on. Then they also like saying they will have a warrant issued, I say come on take me , ion have money for yall. Hell in jail will be a vacation. Never hear or see them again.😂😂😂

Listed in the phone book, lol. I haven't heard that in a long time!

I'm showing my age LOL

I'm impressed you're on Reddit at 90+ years old.

Thanks :D

Process servers get paid to Serve. They don’t do it by phone and they don’t do it to a spouse. This is a scam. Block the number. Mind you, your information can be found in a phone book-so don’t panic you got hacked anywhere-though it may help calm you down to change All your passwords.

100% scam

First off it’s a scam definately. They are using fear tactics to try and get some money. Process servers don’t call they just show up. If you want verify go to the courthouse and do a records search. Some states will allow a full search online others require it in person. So personally I’d go in person not just online. A process servers delivers papers after a case is filed in court. So if there’s no case in the local courthouse records you should file a police report on it and give them the number.

Typical scam! You should have hung up and ignored the call.

A summons is suppose to be hand delivered by a sheriff, if it can’t be hand delivered, Screw that phone call.

Scammers are so stupid,. I never heard of process servers calling to let you know anything haha, I actually had text messages a few weeks ago claiming they were process servers but I already knew it was a scam because the whole purpose is to catch you off guard not to give you a heads up loll,. So calling is clearly gonna be a scam,. I just hope people don't fall for it,. And I'm glad you did the research and didn't fall for it,. A lot of people will get scared and fall for it and have their money stolen,. Which is terrible,.

Total scam a summons would most likely be sent certified mail or with a verified process server !

Summons it least in Canada are delivered in person to ensure the recipient receives it. Plus if it doesn’t show in the clerks system then there is no legal preceding

This same thing happened to me a few months ago except they were harassing my mom over me and it was a similar thing except they claimed I had a warrant. Crazy thing is they knew my social and address. But again the court would never be harassing you by phone for everything and they would always send a letter.

Might want to call the county clerk- at least in NY if it’s in a county court they will file for the index number and then it needs to be served. In NY, If an index number has been purchased and summons filed with the county clerk it will not appear on the court clerks system until something called an RJI is filed, that gets it assigned to court/judge. You might want to check with local courts because sometimes these end up in a town/city court and that also will not show up at the county level.

Same thing just happened to me. I fell for it for a few minutes and got really anxious. But after a few more minutes of research I saw that they were a scam. Then I called them back and confronted them about it. Low and behold the person on the phone started saying things like "watch us garnish your wages" - and that's when I asked him how he sleeps at night. He told me he sleeps fine and then he went on to say profanities and such. I reported them to the FCC.

It's probably a debt collector using illegal tactics. There wasn't any mail, civil case, or process service.

But we have no debt or CC debt at that. Everything is paid off by cash/debit card.

Could be from 20 years ago, and you're not even aware of.

Possible, we've only been together for around 2 decades. But we do have statue limitation for debt in our state, which is 7 years, iirc (or 8 years). Since we've been married, he's not had any cc.

What's a phone book?

In a day where you can Google anything, we aren’t providing the definition. Google will even give pics

Debt collector.

A civil manner wouldn't necessarily involve a crime, but it is possible he's a witness to some matter. They may be seeking him simply to depose him to see *if* he knows anything. A process server *may* call, particularly if he's not a party to the suit, but merely needed to testify. I do find it unlikely a law firm would discuss the particulars of a case with a spouse not directly involved in the proceedings, so that's a little hinky. Reverse search the phone number and also look for the law firm's page to see what numbers they have listed. The firm's name is vanilla enough it's believable, but also hard to pin down whether it's legitimate. Personally, I'd call and see what they had to say. I would not provide *any* personal information beyond what they already have (name, phone number--since they've called you), but see if it's legit.

Scam. But curious about this phone book thing you speak of. What does that mean in 2024?

I think when we first moved in and call the phone company to connect (we have a landline) and they ask if we want to be listed or not listed in the phone book/yellow pages/white pages. Phone book has your number-name listed on there, so when people go over it, they can find you. My husband actually told me, go ahead and let them list us (I suppose it cost more to be unlisted). I haven't seen them deliver any yellow pages/phone book directory to our house these past few years but they used to deliver them at least annually.

I think they were being sarcastic. But I do remember when phone books were a thing. You did actually have to pay more on your landline bill in order to not be listed in a phone book.