Is this guy scamming me?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can actually ruin your credit over something like this. Not being proactive on it is really dumb, very dumb.

How?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can actually ruin your credit over something like this. Not being proactive on it is really dumb, very dumb.

How?

Well OP seems about as smart as an overripe potato….

But the obvious answer would be to pull your credit report, put PINs all bureaus, ask for certified mail to prove it’s a legitimate debt, contact HR at prior company, etc.

[Anonymous]

OP here.

My credit reports are clean.

I’m suspecting it’s a scam, but it’s weird that the guy is from a legit collections agency but has a LinkedIn profile where he’s a partner in a law firm. Very shady.

He did email me some blurry PDFs, but refused to mail the documents because USPS is not reliable.

I’ll contact HR on Monday and request payroll stubs.

I’ll ask him to provide all the evidence by certified mail or leave me alone.

[Anonymous]

Information on any LinkedIn listing might be entirely fake. LinkedIn disclaims responsibility for what any LinkedIn page claims, there is no real verification, and fake pages are not unusual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My credit reports are clean.

I’m suspecting it’s a scam, but it’s weird that the guy is from a legit collections agency but has a LinkedIn profile where he’s a partner in a law firm. Very shady.

He did email me some blurry PDFs, but refused to mail the documents because USPS is not reliable.

I’ll contact HR on Monday and request payroll stubs.

I’ll ask him to provide all the evidence by certified mail or leave me alone.

It's possible for multiple attorneys to have the same name. Is that linkedin profile in his email signature line or did you just Google his name?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My credit reports are clean.

I’m suspecting it’s a scam, but it’s weird that the guy is from a legit collections agency but has a LinkedIn profile where he’s a partner in a law firm. Very shady.

He did email me some blurry PDFs, but refused to mail the documents because USPS is not reliable.

I’ll contact HR on Monday and request payroll stubs.

I’ll ask him to provide all the evidence by certified mail or leave me alone.

The guy your are talking to is not the guy in the LinkedIn profile. The guy on the phone is spoofing the guy on the LinkedIn profile; he wants you to think that is who he is. It isn't. The guy on the phone probably isn't even in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My credit reports are clean.

I’m suspecting it’s a scam, but it’s weird that the guy is from a legit collections agency but has a LinkedIn profile where he’s a partner in a law firm. Very shady.

He did email me some blurry PDFs, but refused to mail the documents because USPS is not reliable.

I’ll contact HR on Monday and request payroll stubs.

I’ll ask him to provide all the evidence by certified mail or leave me alone.

The guy your are talking to is not the guy in the LinkedIn profile. The guy on the phone is spoofing the guy on the LinkedIn profile; he wants you to think that is who he is. It isn't. The guy on the phone probably isn't even in the US.

+1 OP, ignore this guy. This is a total scam. Block his number, block his email.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can actually ruin your credit over something like this. Not being proactive on it is really dumb, very dumb.

Eh doubt this guy is going to the agencies.

I never read unexpected email or answer unknown numbers as many people don’t. They need certified mail receipts to show a real notification was attempted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can actually ruin your credit over something like this. Not being proactive on it is really dumb, very dumb.

Eh doubt this guy is going to the agencies.

I never read unexpected email or answer unknown numbers as many people don’t. They need certified mail receipts to show a real notification was attempted.

NP and while I also doubt it will get reported to the credit reporting agencies tons of people have debt on their credit report they are not aware of. If there is a requirement to notify debtors before it is reported it is not enforced at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My credit reports are clean.

I’m suspecting it’s a scam, but it’s weird that the guy is from a legit collections agency but has a LinkedIn profile where he’s a partner in a law firm. Very shady.

He did email me some blurry PDFs, but refused to mail the documents because USPS is not reliable.

I’ll contact HR on Monday and request payroll stubs.

I’ll ask him to provide all the evidence by certified mail or leave me alone.

I think this sounds like a good idea, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My credit reports are clean.

I’m suspecting it’s a scam, but it’s weird that the guy is from a legit collections agency but has a LinkedIn profile where he’s a partner in a law firm. Very shady.

He did email me some blurry PDFs, but refused to mail the documents because USPS is not reliable.

I’ll contact HR on Monday and request payroll stubs.

I’ll ask him to provide all the evidence by certified mail or leave me alone.

I think this sounds like a good idea, OP.

Does it ? What lawyer mails “blurry” pdfs? What a waste of time.

[Anonymous]

This guy sounds so shady. You are getting in more trouble by engaging with him. If they think they have a shot with you, I don't see him giving up on this scam. It's much safer to not reach out and block him all around. If he escalates, file a complaint with the state's disciplinary board. He cannot demand payment with blurry pdfs as his evidence. People counseling you otherwise must be scammers themselves or easy targets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My credit reports are clean.

I’m suspecting it’s a scam, but it’s weird that the guy is from a legit collections agency but has a LinkedIn profile where he’s a partner in a law firm. Very shady.

He did email me some blurry PDFs, but refused to mail the documents because USPS is not reliable.

I’ll contact HR on Monday and request payroll stubs.

I’ll ask him to provide all the evidence by certified mail or leave me alone.

It's possible for multiple attorneys to have the same name. Is that linkedin profile in his email signature line or did you just Google his name?

That’s the thing. I only googled the number he called me from, without any names. And this LinkedIn profile with the same name came up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This guy sounds so shady. You are getting in more trouble by engaging with him. If they think they have a shot with you, I don't see him giving up on this scam. It's much safer to not reach out and block him all around. If he escalates, file a complaint with the state's disciplinary board. He cannot demand payment with blurry pdfs as his evidence. People counseling you otherwise must be scammers themselves or easy targets.

Here is an update.

I called the collection agency he said he is from and they told me he does work there, although they sounded weird. Like they answered the phone with a “hello”, not the name of the company.

He sent me another PDF. The PDF looks like a couple of paystubs pasted in the middle of the Excel spreadsheet and some random calculations.

The paystubs do have the correct name and address, and an employee number.

I called my former employer and asked to send me my paystubs. They asked for my employee number. I didn’t have it so I gave them the one off this guy’s PDF. They said they found a matching record and will contact me regarding paystubs. That was also weird too, but I’m 99% sure they are legit. It’s Accenture Federal Services.

Meanwhile, I checked my bank records and I did not receive the second direct deposit that this guy was showing in his PDF.

So I sent him an email asking to send me hard copies of my paystubs and receipts for direct deposits within 30 days, otherwise I’ll be ignoring him as I think it is a scam. I said I’ll report this scam if I find evidence.

He responded saying he’s sorry I think it’s a scam and threatened to ruin my credit.

And that’s where I left it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My credit reports are clean.

I’m suspecting it’s a scam, but it’s weird that the guy is from a legit collections agency but has a LinkedIn profile where he’s a partner in a law firm. Very shady.

He did email me some blurry PDFs, but refused to mail the documents because USPS is not reliable.

I’ll contact HR on Monday and request payroll stubs.

I’ll ask him to provide all the evidence by certified mail or leave me alone.

It's possible for multiple attorneys to have the same name. Is that linkedin profile in his email signature line or did you just Google his name?

That’s the thing. I only googled the number he called me from, without any names. And this LinkedIn profile with the same name came up.

OP, I am guessing someone found a LinkedIn profile of a real lawyer with a big law job, took his name/photo and made a fake LinkedIn profile using the name of a real collections agency.

So the person is a real lawyer. And the alleged collections agency is a real agency. The scammers are just using their likeness in a fake profile linked to the number you’re looking up.

Why don’t you message the real LinkedIn profile connected to the law firm or better yet, call the big law firm in NY tomorrow (using an actual phone number from their website) and ask whether this attorney is involved in debt collection work. If he legit does debt collection, then they should be able to explain yes he oversees our XYZ employment law practice that specializes is in employee overpayments or something like that. But odds are you’ll be tipping them off that he’s being used as part of a scam.