PA AG: Outfit Used Notices Hand-Delivered By Faux 'Sheriff Deputies', Fake 'Courtroom' & Mock 'Hearings' To Squeeze Debtors Out Of Cash, Car Titles

In Erie, Pennsylvania, WTAE-TV Channel 4 reports:

• A sign in the front of a building on West 39th Street tells visitors that it's the Unicredit Debt Resolution Center in Erie. Once debtors got inside, they were fooled into believing they were in a courtroom with a judge, but the whole thing was a fake, according to a lawsuit filed by the Pennsylvania attorney general.

• Team 4's Jim Parsons reported that Unicredit America is accused in the lawsuit of deceiving, misleading and coercing hundreds of consumers into paying off their debts. Inside the building is a pair of locked oak doors with brass handles resembling a courtroom entrance. The company is accused in the lawsuit of building a mock courtroom complete with a judge's bench and witness stand.(1)

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• The Attorney General's Office told Team 4 that Unicredit lured debtors to the building by sending employees who appeared to be sheriff's deputies to their homes, implying that they would be taken into custody if they failed to appear at the phony court hearings.

• "It really galls me that someone would stoop that low," Erie County Sheriff Robert Merski said. "This certainly seems to be a scam, and it upsets me that they are trying to play on the integrity of this office, the office of sheriff. We've been here since the beginning of the United States."

• The lawsuit accuses Unicredit of intimidating debtors into revealing their bank account numbers, even turning over the titles to their cars once they got them inside the building.

Source: Team 4: Debt Collectors Accused Of Fake Courtroom, Judge (Pa. Attorney General Sues Unicredit In Erie).

For the Pennsylvania AG press release, see Erie debt collection company sued; accused of using bogus "hearings" and fake "courtroom" to collect from consumers.

Thanks to Bill Roper for the heads-up on the story.

(1) According to the Pennsylvania AG press release, the fake courtroom allegedly contained furniture and decorations similar to those used in actual court offices, including a raised "bench" area where a judge would be seated; two tables and chairs in front of the "bench" for attorneys and defendants; a simulated witness stand; seating for spectators; and legal books on bookshelves. During some proceedings, an individual dressed in black was seated where observers would expect to see a judge. Consumers with complaints or questions related to Unicredit debt collection practices are urged by the Attorney General to call his Consumer Protection Hotline at 1-800-441-2555 or file an online consumer complaint.