Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

was informed by a company called legal review that they will be issuing a warrant for arrest tomorrow at noon for supposedly committing wire fraud. They told me that I failed to pay a cash advance a few years ago in the amount of $1000. I informed them that I have been in the hospital for 7 mths and I can not pay that right now. They told me to expect two armed officers tomorrow to come and arrest me. What can i do?


Asked on 4/12/16, 4:44 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Andrew Roberts Roberts Law Group

Only the police can issue a warrant or DA. If you do get arrested - don't say anything- other than to your public defender.

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Answered on 4/12/16, 5:37 pm
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

I obviously don't have enough information to be confident of this, but what you've described sure sounds like a scam. Private companies can't issue arrest warrants or send police officers to enforce their claims. Failing to repay a debt isn't enough to qualify as fraud, and police won't arrest someone for fraud on a mere accusation. Threatening to have someone arrested if they don't pay a debt will usually qualify as attempted extortion. Assuming the company is a collection agency, it would also be a serious violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Is this even a real debt? Has anyone contacted you about it before? Did you Google the company's phone number? If so, what did you find?

For all I know, this could be for real. Maybe the debt is legit, and maybe what really happened is that the company complained about you to the police. But I see multiple red flags here.

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Answered on 4/12/16, 5:42 pm


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