Debtors

Gift Card Scams

It has come to our attention that scammers have been committing fraud posing as Chapter 13 Trustees in other parts of the country.  They are contacting debtors to make plan payments to a different address via gift cards, threatening their case if they do not comply immediately.

Please let your clients know that we will NEVER contact them in any fashion – email, text, phone call, etc – and ask for a gift card.  As stated in our Chapter 13 Debtor Handbook, we only accept payments via check, money order, ACH or via TFS.  Check and money order payments are only accepted at our address:

Office of the Ch 13 Standing Trustee – David Ruskin
1593 Reliable Pkwy
Chicago IL  60685-0015

More information about this type of scam can be found here:
https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2021/12/scammers-are-tricking-more-people-buying-gift-cards

We ask that you inform all of your clients that our office will never contact them for payments in such a manner and that they should contact YOU if they are ever contacted about making plan payments outside of the methods stated above.