Coeur d'Alene man reports savings collection scam

COEUR d'ALENE - James Gleaves received a letter this week from an outfit offering to help him collect some money from a savings account.

The Coeur d'Alene man told The Press Thursday that the letter wasn't signed and didn't give any other identifying information.

"It just says you're eligible to receive the balance of your savings account," Gleaves said.

The letter said in order to receive the funds, "please contact our customer relations department." When he called the number, Gleaves said he was told to call a second phone number to speak with a Jim Lopez.

"He said, 'You have a debt of $50,000 to Chase, and we want to take care of this for you,'" Gleaves said.

After speaking with Lopez, Gleaves contacted Chase to be sure that his debts had in fact been paid off. They confirmed this information and confirmed Gleaves' suspicion that he was being scammed.

The Press attempted to contact the group that mailed Gleaves using the number provided in the letter. The person who answered didn't indicate the company's name and wouldn't forward the call to Lopez without an account number.

An Internet search of the second number shows it is connected to Lloyd Ward and Associates, a law firm based in Dallas, Texas.

When The Press contacted the firm, the woman who answered the phone said there was no one available who could speak about the firm's connection to the letter.

"That (phone) number used to be associated with our firm, but he is no longer associated with them. He's handling it," the woman said. "If this is in relation to collections, we don't do that anymore and I can't look anything up."

According to the State Bar of Texas, Ward is eligible to practice law in Texas. However, in July of 2013 he was sanctioned and put on probation for nine months.