Phone Scammers Threaten Victims With Court

DENVER (CBS4) - Police are warning of threatening phone calls and the people on the other end of the line are conning victims into giving them their personal information.

Sometimes the caller will threaten to break their legs or sexually assault them if they don't provide what they're after. In this case it's a threat of another kind. The message is to pay up for an outstanding loan.

"(I had) no idea what they were talking about," said a man who received one of the calls. He asked not to be identified.

Regardless, he was told if he didn't pay up he was going to be brought to court.

"Your case will be directly forwarded to your local county court. After that you don't have a chance to resolve this case out of the courthouse," the message states.

"That's pretty scary when someone calls you and has your Social Security number and you have to be compliant with what they are requesting," the man said.

CBS4 looked up the return number and found it listed on the Internet as "scammer fraudster" with such remarks as "lawsuit against my Social Security number."

Lisa Stigall with the Wheat Ridge police has advice on how to handle such a call.

"First thing is do not give or confirm any personal information," she said.

CBS4 called the company back with the intended victim nearby. They said they were a law firm, but didn't say where and just referred to their warning.

The call came from a Los Angeles number which came back to a law firm with a disconnected number. But police say often the calls are just routed through U.S. numbers and are often from scams based overseas.

Police say do not give out any information and those with doubts should always call authorities.