Why am I getting this,I don't know the Plaintiff?

[Gregory1445]

I am in Riverside California and just received a notice in the mail (that is unsigned) from a lawyer in San Francisco, filling for a judgment in the Riverside Superior Court for a debt that I have never incurred. This is the first notice I have been given, but I see that it was 1st filed in 2006.

This lawyer has terrible reviews for filling suits for unsubstantiated debts.

He is asking for sensitive personal and financial info, I have just gotten through 2 fraudulent attempts to use my credit card and another to open credit in my name and am wary of providing this info to a lawyer representing a plaintiff that I have never done business with.

I don't know what to do!?!? I am disabled and on a very limited Social Security income.

I would appreciate any advice in this regard.

Thanks in advance.
GM

 

[quincy]

I am in Riverside California and just received a notice in the mail (that is unsigned) from a lawyer in San Francisco, filling for a judgment in the Riverside Superior Court for a debt that I have never incurred. This is the first notice I have been given, but I see that it was 1st filed in 2006.

This lawyer has terrible reviews for filling suits for unsubstantiated debts.

He is asking for sensitive personal and financial info, I have just gotten through 2 fraudulent attempts to use my credit card and another to open credit in my name and am wary of providing this info to a lawyer representing a plaintiff that I have never done business with.

I don't know what to do!?!? I am disabled and on a very limited Social Security income.

I would appreciate any advice in this regard.

Thanks in advance.
GM

DO NOT provide any sensitive personal or financial information to the lawyer. Do not.

I recommend you seek help from an attorney in your area. The attorney can draft a letter to the lawyer who is contacting you, to let that lawyer know that you are not connected in any way with the debt and any further contact about the matter should be through him and not you.

You may find some help through the Riverside Legal Aid organization: http://riversidelegalaid.org/

Good luck.

 

[single317dad]

DO NOT provide any sensitive personal or financial information to the lawyer. Do not.

Can't stress this enough. Just don't.

You should also contact the court the case is allegedly filed in and make sure the case even exists. I've seen this scam where the "law firm" didn't even exist; the "address for payment" was just a drop mailbox that was forwarded straight to Timbuktu.

 

[quincy]

Can't stress this enough. Just don't.

You should also contact the court the case is allegedly filed in and make sure the case even exists. I've seen this scam where the "law firm" didn't even exist; the "address for payment" was just a drop mailbox that was forwarded straight to Timbuktu.

I have heard of several similar scams. One should NEVER EVER reveal personal or financial information to anyone they don't know and trust just because a letter says they need to (or a phone caller says they need to).

Gregory1445 is wise to be wary.

There are a whole host of nefarious individuals in the world who prey on the innocence of others. My grandparents (and to a lesser extent, my parents) are of an age where they tend to trust the motives of others. I am of a generation that knows you can't.

 

[Mark Maroon]

I am in Riverside California and just received a notice in the mail (that is unsigned) from a lawyer in San Francisco, filling for a judgment in the Riverside Superior Court for a debt that I have never incurred. This is the first notice I have been given, but I see that it was 1st filed in 2006.

This lawyer has terrible reviews for filling suits for unsubstantiated debts.

He is asking for sensitive personal and financial info, I have just gotten through 2 fraudulent attempts to use my credit card and another to open credit in my name and am wary of providing this info to a lawyer representing a plaintiff that I have never done business with.

I don't know what to do!?!?

It's not clear to me what the "notice" that you received in the mail actually said. Does the "notice" say that there was a civil case filed against you in the Riverside Superior Court back in 2006 and that there is already a judgment awarded against you in that case? Does the "notice" give you the case number? You can go to
http://public-access.riverside.courts.ca.gov/OpenAccess/CivilMainMenu.asp
and search for the case (by the case number or by your name).

If you cannot verify that there is a civil case filed against you (based on the information provided in the "notice" and your search of the court records), then you should call the attorney that sent you the "notice" and get more information from them as to why they sent it to you. But of course, as others have suggested, you should not give the attorney any "sensitive personal and financial info".

If you can verify that there is a civil case filed against you, then you will need to figure out what you want to do about it.

 

[quincy]

It's not clear to me what the "notice" that you received in the mail actually said. Does the "notice" say that there was a civil case filed against you in the Riverside Superior Court back in 2006 and that there is already a judgment awarded against you in that case? Does the "notice" give you the case number? You can go to
http://public-access.riverside.courts.ca.gov/OpenAccess/CivilMainMenu.asp
and search for the case (by the case number or by your name).

If you cannot verify that there is a civil case filed against you (based on the information provided in the "notice" and your search of the court records), then you should call the attorney that sent you the "notice" and get more information from them as to why they sent it to you. But of course, as others have suggested, you should not give the attorney any "sensitive personal and financial info".

If you can verify that there is a civil case filed against you, then you will need to figure out what you want to do about it.

I think that all BUT calling the attorney listed on the "notice" is a good idea, Mark.

Checking the court records in Riverside is smart - but it is far too easy for someone who thinks they are talking to a lawyer to be intimidated into giving out personal and financial information over the phone. And there is no good reason for any lawyer representing another party to be asking through a letter for the personal and financial information of an opposing party.

This could very well be a scam and Gregory1445 should treat it as such until the letter and the facts can be reviewed by an attorney in Gregory's area.

 

[Mark Maroon]

I think that all BUT calling the attorney listed on the "notice" is a good idea, Mark.

Checking the court records in Riverside is smart - but it is far too easy for someone who thinks they are talking to a lawyer to be intimidated into giving out personal and financial information over the phone. And there is no good reason for any lawyer representing another party to be asking through a letter for the personal and financial information of an opposing party.

This could very well be a scam and Gregory1445 should treat it as such until the letter and the facts can be reviewed by an attorney in Gregory's area.

I think it's difficult to evaluate the "notice" without reading it. It certainly could be a complete scam, such as an attempt to obtain personal and financial information to be used in some kind of identity theft. But alternatively it could be a legitimate notice of some kind, such as a notice to attend some kind of debtor's hearing/deposition, and the recipient of the notice (the debtor/defendant) is properly being requested to bring with them to the hearing/deposition various "personal and financial" information and documents concerning their assets. The fact that the original poster was able to look up the attorney on the internet suggests that it might possibly be something closer to the former than the latter (although based on reviews or whatever that the original poster apparently found regarding the attorney, it might be a strong-arm-bordering-on-fraudulent attempt by a real attorney to collect an old debt).

If the original poster can confirm that the "notice" came from a licensed attorney, and they can't verify that there is a civil case filed against them, then I still think they should contact the attorney to find out what the notice is all about. But I also think that you are correct, if they can be easily intimidated into giving out personal and financial information over the telephone, then they should contact the attorney in writing rather than on the telephone.

 

[quincy]

... If the original poster can confirm that the "notice" came from a licensed attorney, and they can't verify that there is a civil case filed against them, then I still think they should contact the attorney to find out what the notice is all about. But I also think that you are correct, if they can be easily intimidated into giving out personal and financial information over the telephone, then they should contact the attorney in writing rather than on the telephone.

Gregory should NOT contact the attorney, either in writing or by telephone, whether the attorney is a licensed attorney or not.

If Gregory receives notice from a Riverside area court, then THAT is something that requires a response.

I provided a link to the Riverside Legal Aid organization in my first post. Before acting on the notice that was received, Gregory should have the notice he received looked at to better determine its legitimacy. The fact that the notice was sent on attorney letterhead means little to nothing.