They Say My Pay Will be Garnished and I Will be Arrested

Question:

Dear Steve,

They’re saying my paycheck will be garnished at 25% and that I’ll be arrested.

Is this a true email? fd************************@***il.com

Steven

Answer:

Dear Steven,

Take a deep breath. This sounds more like a scam than anything else for a few reasons.

First, the fact the email is coming from Gmail instead of a specific company makes me pause.

Second, you will not be arrested over an old debt. That is a frequent scare tactic that scammers use.

Third, your situation sounds a lot like this recent warning that the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions put out. The State warning says, “The callers often threaten legal action. Many of the callers claim to be attorneys or members of law enforcement.”

There are two possibilities here. The first is this is one of the many scam emails designed to frighten and scare consumers into paying a debt they don’t owe. They have been rampant. Especially if the debt in question was a payday loan or title loan.

Alternatively, if you feel the debt in question is one that you do owe, you can always inquire directly to the company that you owe the debt to.

The bottom line is you can investigate this further but don’t leap to think the horrible claims are true.

Steve Rhode Debt Coach and Author

Steve Rhode is the Get Out of Debt Guy and has been helping good people with bad debt problems since 1994. You can learn more about Steve, here.

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