Payday loan - what to do?

Hi whattodo

Welcome to debt consolidation care forums.
It depends on you. As you have agreed to pay $518 for a $300 loan to the company it is better to settle it off. But they have threatened your brother which is against the fdcpa regulations. A creditor or any lender cannot resort to unfair means to collect debt. If they violate they can be sued by you. So you have two options:

i) You can pay off $518 to the company.

ii) You can sue the company for violating FDCPA guidelines. For this you have to take the help of an attorney. He will guide you in the right way.

Hope to hear from you soon

Regards
Peter

Okay i just looked at their website and they are claiming to be a law firm.

[color=red][size=2][Link made inactive as per forum rules-Mike][/size][/color]

Sorry this is the right website

[color=red][size=2][Link made inactive as per forum rules-Mike][/size][/color]

When i type in the phone number, that is where it takes me. However, when i asked the guy the name of the company, he said Paul Kupferstein and Associates. And the address i am to send my money orders isnt the same. I tried looking up Paul and found little information about a possible scam.
I just dont want to pay my money to some scam artist like Ellis Crosby. The guy was actually nice and helpful and i have the money orders ready to go, i just want to make sure i am doing the right thing. I want to pay it off but i dont want to pay it to the wrong person and give into one of these scum companies out there. They called my brother and friend and threatened them with a subpoena, so i think i am going to pay it so they are not bothered anymore. Thanks again for the information and advice.
Brett

if you are worried about paying the wrong person tell him you want him to verifiy the debt do you can pay it and that you would like a recpeit afterwards
if he says NO then tell him no money!

I too have recently been threatened by Paul Kupferstein and Associates. A few months ago phoney charges were billed to my telephone. I made a formal complaint to my phone company, then to the actual company who billed these charges to me. The calls were taken off my account. A few days ago I receive a phonecall from Paul Kupferstein and Associates telling me their"client" is suing me for these charges. If I do not want to go to court I needed to pay $500 to stop the injunction. I checked with Sprint and my account is current. I have received two other phonecalls from this Paul Kupferstein's office only to be bullied and harassed. I have made several complaints to various people in Canada(phonebusters.com and the the Canadian Law association) and also to the Attorney General in the US. If any of you get a call from Paul Kupferstein and Associates it is a scam!!!!

do not send them any money!!!! they are a scam!!! no one would call u like that!!! trust me, they tried to fraud others!!

if anyone needs their new # 905-474-3535

phonebusters says that 620 alden rd suite 208 is really a po box number.
they tried scamming us in NJ

Hello We have been hit by paul kupferstein by them tellin my mother n law and father n law that they need to pay them 189.81...My parents believe that these people were actually going to sue them until I looked on google for Paul kuferstein...Finding out he is a scam artist!! I cant believe people like that have the nerve to do that!

We have also been getting calls from a Paul Kupferstein and Associates (sounds like ???Cooperstein??? on our answering machine). The phone number to call back was 905-474-3535.

We've gotten three messages so far, from a Mr. Sargent on 8/16/05, 8/18/05, and 8/25/05.

His message states their office is threatening legal action 'in regards to a matter filed in our offices' about 'an investigation unto this phone line'. The second message says we have 24 hours to return the call. The next message says we must call by noon the next day or charges will be filed.

We called our phone company to make sure there were no problems with our account or investigations with our phone line, and they said we were clear and in good standing. We also reported this to our state attorney general's office. I also called phonebusters(dot)com, but they were not much help.

At the time of the first message, we had absolutely no idea what this was about, so after the second one, we called our local sheriff's office and they came over on the evening of 8/18/05 and listened to the messages and took down all the information.

We were advised not to call this company back since we have discovered it is likely a total scam. The sheriff also told us that in cases like this there is not always much they can do since we are in the US and the company is in Canada.

Well, it happened to me altghough I had a bad feeling that it might be a scam. I send a check of $100.00 per Fedex overnight. I was not able to stop the delivery but I stopped the check payment (ask your bank). I also was bullied and harassed as well as threatened in pretty much the same way as everybody else. The only thought I had at payment was that I didn't want to endanger some legal steps (good one's) and not make our life in this country didfficult.
I hope that people getting these calls will get into the Internet before paying and other actions.
Spread the word.

Ingeborg, thanks for your concern. We definitely need to take some positive steps to stop these fraudulent activities from happening.

I too just got a message from this Paul Kupferstein (or however you spell it). I didn't phone them back, came on the internet first....good thing I did!!

I experienced the harrassment and bullying by a Mr. Steve Sargent of the Law Offices of Paul Kupferstein today, September 8, 2005. As with the other descriptions, this was over 900 web calls which were never made from my home. I told Mr. Sargent this was extortion!! Be ware!! I will also be reporting them to the attorney general and by local phone service.

This Steve Sargeant is a busy fellow. I too received calls from the so-called "law offices of Paul Kupferstein" during the past week, and had a phone conversation with Sargeant today, Sept. 8, during which has explained to me that his "client" would sue me "tomorrow" if I did not pay off their phony phone charges. The original charges were bogus 900-number calls, which I did not make. After they appeared on my Verizon bill, I disputed them and had they formally removed. Months later, this Kupferstein scam pops up. My finacee and I are in the process of buying a house, and were worried about our credit and considering paying off the fees pending some investigation, until we saw this blog. It saved us some serious headache. Thank you! Be sure to spread the word about these crooks.

I have been using a regular modem to dial into the internet and have the habit of leaving my computer running for long periods. Needless to say, a "Modem Dialer Trojan" program installed itself on my PC and apparently started calling long distance all over the place. I initially saw a charge on my phone bill from Enhaced Services Billing Inc. for a company called MMI World Communications. I Called BellSouth and ESBI and disputed the charges. ESBI eventually removed the charges. I then asked BellSouth to block the dialling of all 900 numbers from my phone. Few weeks later I received three messages on my answering machine from one "Mr. David" at Paul Kupferstein law offices threatening to take me to court. The messages stated that they had "ran" an investigation on my line and that I only had 24 hours to call them back. Having been out of town for the past week, I called Paul Kupferstein's office at (905) 474-3535 and spoke with this "Mr, David" this morning. I asked him what this was about and he told me that an investigation of my phone line had verified calls having been made to "Adult" websites and that I had better send them $699.97 immediately or else they would take me to court and add on several more thousand dollars to the tab. He also urged me to use FedEx and/or UPS (since use of United States Postal Servies would allow the inspector general to investigate the matter later). He insisted that these charges were indisputable regardless of whether or not a malicious program or a human made them. He then gave the 620 Alden Road, Unit 208, Markham, ONT L3R9R7 address and told me to send the payment there. I was debating whether or not to spend several hundred dollars to hire an attorney to fight these people in court or just swallow hard and give them the money and be done with it, when I found this forum. I think I will hold off on sending that check and wait for Mr. David to call me again so that I can give him a piece of my mind. Thank you all for the info.

Many of the consumers have already filed their complaints against Paul Kupferstein law offices as they were not practicing business within the legal lines. You should get complete details before they can take any action against you.

Do not get scared because they will use every means to do so. If the debt is legal, you will definitely pay. But what's the use of paying over an unproven debt.

I also got a call from this idiot today and they were quite rude... he said it was over 900 charges on my phone bill ....which I took care of 3 months ago...Someone downloaded a dialer on my computer and were making 900 calls...about $131.00 so I had them removed from my phone company... end...but today I got a call from these people and they were ignorant and rude and said they were filing a civil suit against me for $1000 for thier client.. when I explained the situation, he didnt want to hear it and said we'll see you in court. I tried to talk to him and he acted like he didnt have anything to say to me,. just kept saying we'll see you in court.. I asked whats the $1000.00 the charges were $131.00 he said that was interests and legal fees.. guy was a real ****! I was really worried until I found out they were in Canada... how can they persue legal suit in usa.. would cost them a fortune to fly here .. so glad I found this site... Im filing a complaint with the attorney general

[color=Red]****Adult term removed - Jason[/color]

My husband and I had some interesting conversations with this wonderful firm today too, specifically Steve Sargent and we will not be sending them any money whatsoever. We did file a complaint with phonebusters(dot)com and we were told that Paul Kupferstein is a real lawyer, but the firm making these calls is not his firm, we were given their prior name - Zodiac Group.
We were wondering however, how many people starting having problems with these 900 calls after switching internet providers. Our computer was infected on the first day we dialed into NETZERO.
We would also like to track down how he obtained the information because we doubt the company that billed us originally sold our name to him since we have a pending complaint with the FCC on them.
We know that the Paul Kupferstein factor is common to all of us, but we were wondering if there are any other similarities.

Same scam happened to me. A mr. David said I owed $1100. then threatened a lawsuit when I called it a scam. Said he taped me and would see me in court.

They cant tape you unless they tell you, tell them your sueing

I have been getting phone calls from them too over 900 numbers never called. I knew somethng was not right. I called a lawyer and he said they cant just notify you over the phone.It sounded like a scam to him.

Just got a call about some legal action that will be taken against me, and that I need to call back. Thank God I googled it. Some phony 900 charges were charged to my phone bill about a month ago and the charges were taken off. This scamming crap really pisses me off. I can't wait to call the attourney's office and phone busters! Thanks everyone for the info

Did anyone start having these problems with 900 calls after switching internet providers to Netzero?

This company that is using Paul Kupfersteins's name is an unlicensed collection agency, and the owner has a lengthy criminal past they have previously been charged in North Carolina using the law firm of Brian Belmont, Patrick Mlot, and Patrick Wymes they have also had charges filed against them by the State of Kansas. I would suggest that you contact the Law Society of Upper Canada and their website is lsuc.ca and file a complaint as well as contacting your State Attorny General and filing a complaint for violations to the Fair Debt Collection Practises Act. They are not a law firm and Mr. Kupferstein does not have an office in their offices in which is a violation of the law in Ontario and if the Law Society receives complaints they will investigate as they already have a file on these people.

Same story basically, had 900 numbers on my phone bill that I did not call..disputed got the money taken off.. Got a call from this office telling me they are suing etc..The guy I talked to kept hanging up on me..I want to know who this company really is. Ive got the resources to file lawsuits against them...we need to know what company sold them our names..he mentioned something like interactive...

Hey James 1332 The company is called "Live Interactive" they said they was filing a lawsuit on me too the other day... Wanted me to give them $1000.00 for bogus 900 # charges that I had removed on my phone bill . These guys need to be stopped... They hanged up on me and were very rude...ALso read this I found on another site

If Paul Kupferstein and Associates are bothering you with fraudulent claims
and threats, be sure to report them to 1) phonebusters.com 2) The Law
Society of Upper Canada at 416-947-3300 and 3) your state Attorney General's
office. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Do not
pay them, do not speak with them, and do not worry about their false
threats. They buy old phone records and then try to re-collect on old calls
to 1-900 numbers. They are completely fraudulent criminals

If you are concerned about your modem making automatic calls without your permission, you can try a variety of Operating-System-Specific configurations that will prohibit "automatic launch" of "web applications via modem". You can also unplug your modem's telephone cable when you are finished. Same goes for your high-speed users - if you don't have a good reason for maintaining an internet connection, I would strongly advise powering down your cable modem or DSL router.

As for recording you without permission, each state has their own laws about this. Generally speaking it is not permitted without prior consent or announcing it to you. (ie. "Thank you for calling --- your call may be monitored for quality assurance"). Some states require this notification, some don't. But like I said, most likely you're protected and they had no right to record you which is a violation in itself.

Phonebusters and RipOffReport are two great sites to use as a utility in coordination with this forum. I had to use Phonebusters one time and they were EXTREMELY helpful and polite. They provided telephone numbers and points of contact without me even asking for it. Highly reccommended.

Refuse to pay ONLY the original bill to whom it is owed. They all are just trying to milk you for every EXTRA dime you are willing to give!

Sonia, to answer your question--No. We have been with the same ISP (a local one) for over two years now. Somehow one of us must have logged onto a bogus site that downloaded this "Modem Dialer Trojan" program onto our computer.

What's happening here, folks, is Paul Kupferstein & Assoc. is somehow behind that Trojan getting into all our computers. We see the charges on our phone bills and get them removed. The companies the 900 call was placed to sell Kupferstein our information, and he comes after us with bogus claims. Once we find out what it's for, we think we owe him money...and folks that haven't done their research on him, like finding this site, end up getting screwed.

We have been unsuccessful in getting this Trojan off our computer. It still dials out to that 900 # on occasion, but what's saving us now is we had a 900-block placed on our phone line. I would recommend all of you do this if you haven't already in case that Trojan is still in your system.

Received two calls from them concerning 900 calls to my phone bill. The company credited my accout without hesitation. Now this Cooperstein "Law Firm" claims that they are going to sue me for $1500 and have my phone sevice disconnected. I too am going to contact the attorney general in PA and also the Better Business Bureau. Feel better since I definetly know they are scam artists.

Thank God I did some research on these criminals. Just 2hrs ago I've received a call from MR.David claiming that I owe $314.54. Unless I pay it by tomorrow, he's going to pursue $2,100.00 in court. I am going to write a complaint to Canadian authorities. Thank You everyone and we need to make sure to spread the word around so innocent will be protected. God Bless!

Hello everyone my name is Jennifer.
Iam here to tell you that Mr Paul Kupferstein is a real
lawyer.I just got out of court 3 days ago, i didnt
pay a loan off & i paid it through

they are some RUDE people working there,but they
are for REAL!!!

Listen YOU AMERICAN'S think you get away with every thing. You owe MONEY and a collection agency or
a lawyers office calls WHAT DO YOU DO........
YOU GO stright to the DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE.

YOU AMERICAN'S ARE CRY BABIES........

GET OVER IT, you owe money PAY IT!!!

A lawyer wouldnt put his name on the LINE if it
wasnt TRUE.

Just think about it , do more research when it comes to

900 providers before you JUMP THE GUN!!!

I received a call from a Mr. David from Paul Kuperstein's office about 3 weeks ago. He was yelling at me and telling me that i would be sued if i didnt pay $125.72 that i owed for some 900 #'s that appeared on my phone bill back in feb. I did some research, found this website, took the advise of all of you people and told him to do whatever he wanted to do. But guess what, I was serve with court documents today and now i'm being sued. thanks a lot people.

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

all you people are true debtors.........

i was sued just 3 weeks ago by mr kupferstein.

you may think that this is a scam, but its not

ask my bank acctount!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was sued, Iam from texas.

I was sued by Mr Paul Kuferstein 1 year ago.

He got this lawyer a in my state to HELP him , of course
he is from canada. He could sue you guys, i would be

aware of that.

Hey but i owed AMERICAN PYSHIC over $1,200 thats why.

:D :D :D :D :D

you are all loosers....

stop watching **** and maybe you wont have a lawyers office calling you !!!!!!!!

Liability Solutions Inc. has more than twenty years of experience in collection and litigation and is pleased to offer our services throughout both Canada and the United States.


Liability Solutions Inc. has more than twenty years of experience in collection and litigation and is pleased to offer our services throughout Canada and the United States.

Us too! My wife got a call yesterday about a 900 phone call that was credited back by our phone company, because we had 900 block, and was not paid to the 900 service. A 900 call was never authorized and according to the date and time, we were all in bed at the time. A complaint I read online said their local phone company told them that some companys have ways to get around 900 block. I'm sure we've all had our modem hijacked and end up in places we don't want to be and/or get infested with spyware. The charges came from MMI Communications, billed through ESBI (they're pretty popular on ripoffreport.com) then through our local phone company. Paul Kupferstein and Associates told my wife that we're being sued for $1100 (the 900 phone charge, including all taxes was $11.08) and our phone service would be terminated. I was a little suspicious, especially since they said our phone would be disconnected, made some phone calls and internet inquiries. I called them today and talked to Mr. David, who wouldn't give me a first name because he's not on a first name basis with me. He pretty much told me the same thing and said to have my attorney give him a call. My attorney says it all sounds bogus too. I'm just trying to decide which, if not all the companys to file a complaint to the FTC, FCC, BBB and Attorney General.

Mr david called me 3 months ago for some unpaid 900 numbers that were on my bill. I thought that it was a scam, so i took this up with the FTC, FCC, BBB and AG's office. They made me fill out a bunch of paperwork,and file some complaints. I didnt help at all. They keep the complaints and made me think that i was getting somewhere. I was sued last month, and all of these companies I filed complaints with where nowhere to be seen.

robsmith,

I'm really sorry to hear your case. It's an exceptional incident you know. Most of the time people get enough support by filing their complaints with the companies you have mentioned above.

Anyways, hope you have some documents that can prove you had already filed complaint against the company that has taken you to court. You can forward those documents at this situation. Also consult your lawyer regarding this matter.

This Sargent guy called me today and I knew it was a scam right off the bat. I had the same phoney 900 number charged to my phone as did whattodo did and now this Sargent guy has left a message on my phone. Thank you all for the information you have provided.
They will not get one red cent from me.

I was just called this morning and threatened and insulted. I called back, asking for their address and if they were indeed a law firm. They told me they were. I then called my attorney who called them immediately, and they would not speak with him personally. They asked for a letter, which he faxed right then. They said they would call as soon as the letter arrived, 4 hours later, now reply. I had an idea that this might be a scam, and was not going to take any chances on speaking with someone threatening to sue me without me contacting my attorney. Hope this puts a stop to any further harassment

i received a call from Mr. David from the Kupferstein office. This was also over 900 NOT made from my computer. The caller was very rude and obnoxious. I reported him to the local sherriff's office.

I also had a conversation with MR sargent today. BTW he is not a lawyer. it took 3 minutes to get him to answer that question. My fiancee and i also had 900 number charges that we disputed a few months ago and today had a phone call from the law offices of Paul Kupferstein. This must be a scam. we are not paying them and i have spent too much time dealling with these claims already. call your state attorney general and file a complaint. i did and im glad.

I recweived a call from "Mr. David" at Kupferstein's "office" threatening a lawsuit - and to have my phone disconnected - if I don't pay fraudulent 1-900 charges to the company that charged them (not the phone co.). Glad I checked here. I asked how a Canadian law firm could sue me here - he replied that their "partners" in Ohio would actually do the filing. After what I've read here and elsewhere, I'm going to try to find out who their "partners" are and report them as well.

Alert: do not pay this scam artist from canada-report him. He has been harrassing too many people and needs to be stopped threatening phoney charges from phone bills. Please file a complaint to recol ca.

It took awhile but I finally figured out how that 900 charge was initiated. I downloaded an anti-spyware program and when I opened it, nothing happened, initially. A short time later I saw a computer to computer icon popup in my taskbar and it said connection established, no other windows appeared. I have broadband internet and I didn't hear my modem dial so I just figured some one hacked into my computer. I was afraid of identity theft so I shut the computer down. Well, Windows takes so long to shut down that I unplugged the computer cuz I didn't know how fast their software was or what information it could get. When I tried to reformat the hard drive, it was toast and had to be replaced. I can't imagine that any one who uses malicious, deceptive software to hijack a modem would hire an attorney, go through the legal system to collect and more than likely expose themselves to their illegal actions. That leads me to believe the reports about Paul Kupferstein being behind these trojans and/or buying old phone records. I would like to ask Florida Guy how he found out about Kupferstein or the company working out of his office is buying old phone records? Is it a fact, a rumor? Is there an investigation? Also I'd like to ask Guest Steph what she knows, is Kupferstein behind the trojans? Is he buying these records? I don't know if it's proper in this format but I'm willing to communicate through e-mail. We've made a specific e-mail address for this purpose (I'd suggest others who participate do the same so you can just delete it later). I'm willing to leave the address if the moderator gives the OK and others are OK with it too. Otherwise let's just keep it here or form a new blog. I'd really like to get to the bottom of this cuz it seems like there's a lot of stories being told.

I forgot to mention that according to BBB, MMI World Communications formed as a business in AUGUST 2005. MMI World Communications initiated the 900 charge, billed through ESBI then through our JUNE phone bill. On the bill, the call was made in the MIDDLE OF MAY. I don't know how that fits in, if at all, but it sure raises questions.