The Scam Advisory - July 2026
The scam advisory - a free resource from Kahunalife™
Major Scam Alert
Fake Law Firm & Debt Collection Scam
The scam basically goes like this:
You get a call from a (spoofed) local phone number with a live rep or recorded message about a debt collection lawsuit. They explain how a creditor has filed a civil suit against you and how you need to call a 1 877 number to pay a settlement amount to avoid going to court. They also explain that you will be served with court papers at home or at work (a dumb premise, I will explain later). I knew it was fake, so I called the local number back instead of the 1 877 number.
They answered as the fake law office. Some guy claimed that an old account that I don't remember or never heard of was filing suit against me. But if I want to settle for half of what I supposedly owed, they can send a letter out to my home and I could avoid going to court. The account he named was supposedly from the 2010s, which was a dumb choice on their part, because the statute of limitations on debt collections in NC is 3 years, so even if it were real, it would have been discharged or disposed of by now.
After I finished laughing at him, I told him to send the letter so I could use it to file a report with the state attorney general (he hung up). These companies (with the assistance of AI) "Data Scrape" multiple sources to get your personal info. They get information on old or non-existent debts (or closed accounts) and threaten to sue on behalf of the creditor. Most people just pay to avoid a headache.
Here are the 3 basic actions to take:
1. Don't pay anything. Don't agree to pay anything. Any real impactful debt or legal action proceeding will notify you by registered mail. It would also have to be recent, within the last few years.
2. Visit the legal ePortal for your state and search your name (also be sure to search variations of your full name and initials as well) if you do not see any open case numbers with your name (closed cases are listed as "disposed") then you do not have any pending legal action against you.
3. Don't sign anything. The threat of sending a process server to your house is not real if there is no open case; however, a rep from the fake law-firm/debt vulture, will try to get you to sign what looks like a court summons but is actually a promise to pay a phony, old or discharged debt (BTW, letting you know in advance that you're being served defeats the entire purpose. Ask any process server.)
Although I knew this was an obvious scam, it concerned me that they could easily scrape info so quickly and accurately. They had my name, address, phone number and at least part of my SSN. That's a lot. Combine that with how the vast majority of people are not as sharp or as bright as they should be, for whatever reason, and it's easy to realize that lots of people could be taken for some serious bread.
If this is happening to you, or if you have any questions, feel free to reach out. I'm here to help.
Big Love,
Skip Pulley
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