Consumer complaint received 2022-10-19
Company: CCF Intermediate Holdings LLC
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Payday loan debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened to arrest you or take you to jail if you do not pay

Complaint:
I was contacted by a scammer who made us seem they were a lawyer and also impersonated one with the email address. I was naive about what debt collectors can do and worried I would go to jail as they threatened me with a warrant issued for my arrest and also to seize my bank accounts and social security number. They provided me with two options a payment plan or pay an amount and have my account closed and all legal issues that they said they filed dropped. It was late at night and I did not want any legal issues I should of waited until the next day to verify and call the loan provider to see If this email was legitimate. I ended up payed {$560.00} which was the amount stated to close my account and have it reported to the agency in regards to my credit after 90 days. They even impersonated in the receipt copy I got via email for the transaction this morning that the account was closed and to ignore any other emails as this has been paid off and taken care of. I was suspicious because of the name under the pending transaction in my account when I logged onto my online banking I saw the scammer took the money already and I contacted speedy cash they told me my account was being handled by a third party agency and transferred me also they provided me their phone number when I talked to the representative and verified the confirmation number that the scammer gave me as well as the description of the email the representative assured me this was a scam and to report this and that they will never contact a client over email. Debt collectors have no right to take you to jail or legally issue a warrant and that I should contact my bank and local police asap. So I did all that and now I am reporting this to you. They are very wise and clever and they add a lot of legal codes to make it seem legitimate In the email to not make a person think twice about googling or researching if their email or what they are saying is legitimate I wish I was not so naive and so I want to report this to make sure they are caught. 

This is the email address that emailed me back there was two one acting as a lawyer and the second as the debt collector. Another weird thing that happened was after that transaction was taken they knew another loan I had taken out and I received yet another email similar but this time the scammer was impersonating another lawyer and the amount was larger I automatically knew this was a scam and that is when I did my research and called and found out it was also after replying to them and telling them I had a lawyer and to not contact me again because the threats they made the second time they did not email me back again. The second email was more threatening and they used words like you will hate us if you do not settle this case and also to avoid being in jail for three years and paying more money pay this immediately and it was followed by another email stating do you want to handle this outside the courthouse that is when I knew 100 percent it was a scam from the verbiage but it was Already to late. I also will report my social security being stolen as someone out there has that information otherwise they would have no known how much debt I have so if someone gets an email they should also assume there identity has been stolen like their social I will also report that. 

Here are the emails from the scammers : XXXX XXXX They stated a warrant was active for search and XXXX and that I violated the fair debt collection practices and defamation of character. 
This is how i was fooled. I thought it was legitimate. 

They also added they filed a lawsuit against me with three allegations : Violation of the federal banking regulation Breach of contract with the loan company Theft by deception and that they had tracked my IP address and will seize my bank accounts and social security number. Once I paid the debt using a link they provided which I entered my debit card number and info they had an automatic link that showed the payment was successful and the link was like this I took a screenshot : XXXX In addition I noticed the email with the signature Did not have any contact info like a phone number and was very vague like settlement department then the name of the lawyer the scammer is impersonating. I wish I had paid attention to these red flags. I hope these people are caught and if you need more information please contact me thank you. I filed a complaint with my bank to get my money back.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation