I received a call from a man with a heavy Middle-eastern accent identifying himself as a lawyer with Elkins & Associates informing me that I am being prosecuted for initiating and receiving a payday advance and when the company, American Cash Advance, attempted to take the money back out of my account as repayment, there was no money there. So, they were charging me with fraud, negotiating a worthless instrument, etc. and they had a warrant for my arrest. They were also going to notify my employer to have my employment terminated. My initial reaction and response was that I had never taken out a payday loan and was unaware of any attempts on anyone's part to get repayment of any such loan. He even went so far as to read me my Miranda rights!!
I asked him why he was calling, why didn't he just have me arrested? It is unusual for the lawyer of a plaintiff to contact an alleged defendant?!?!? He said he wanted the name and number of my attorney in this matter. I told him that since I had no idea what he was taking about, there obviously was no lawyer on my part. He shouted at me that he would see me in court and hung up on me.
I called the number back and it was answered by another man with the same heavy accent. I asked him if he was the person who had just called me and he said yes. I hadn't even identified myself yet and was on a secure phone line, so he wouldn't have been able to see the number. I asked him if they were a legitimate law office and he became very belligerent. So, I told him to go ahead and have me arrested and we would settle this in court. Again, he hung up on me.
I looked up Elkins & Associates in MI and found two such law firms in different towns. I called both and both phone recordings were done by clearly educated American men. I did leave messages on their answering machines about someone using their good name in a scam.
The one thing that I believe made me a victim here is that I did apply for a loan via the internet last night. But, I secured a loan with a legitimate company and received confirmation, etc.