No one can be legally served by phone, fax, email, text message, or even smoke signals.
This is a common ploy by criminals attempting to extort money from people by scaring you into believing that you will be criminally charged, go to jail, lose your driver’s license, have wages garnished, etc. all for an alleged or nonexistent debt.
Federal law (FDCPA) requires them to send you a letter (US MAIL ONLY) within 5 days of their first contact that contains their name, physical address, the creditor’s name, and the amount of the alleged debt. It also must contains “mini-Miranda” telling you that it is an attempt to collect a debt and that all information will be used for those purposes. The one other important thing that this letter must also have in it is that you have a right to dispute the debt within 30 days receipt of the letter and if you do so, all collection activity must be stopped until the debt is verified.
Read up on your rights here, get template letters to send and also make a complaint at this government site: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/
Also file a complaint with your State Attorney General's office.
List of State AG’s offices: http://consumerfraudreporting.org/stateattorneygenerallist.php
6/10/2015 1:35 pm
Company ("A First"/ Express...) Dale (305) 600-3814
I received a call from this telephone number on my personal cell and was asked by the caller to speak with a family member whom, I do not live with nor share any accounts with. I asked the name of the company, he quickly and unclearly said what sounded like "A First".
I immediately asked to be removed from their system and put on their Do Not Call list. He goes "whoa whoa whoa" as I was making this request and hung up.
I called the number back & a woman answered the call. I asked her for the name of the company, she said what sounded like "Express..." I couldn't make out the rest (both times I asked).
I asked her to remove my number from their system... she said is this regarding "family member name" (they have caller ID and knew what account I was referring to). I said, yes. She said okay and hung up!
It sounds like a collection company.
Tips:
If you encounter this company or any other collection company whom you are not familiar with, the following steps have helped me.
1. Before you give ANY information to anyone, you have the right to find out who is requesting the information.
Company Name
Representative Name/ Employee #
Contact Number.
(Write this down)
If they cannot provide you with this information, you can not validate their authenticity & should suspect fraud.
Mock Conversation:
Rep: "Hello, can I speak with "Susan"
You: "Who is this, and from which company are you calling?"
Rep: "Is this "Susan"?
You: "Who is this, and from which company are you calling?"
2. (a). Family Members:
After getting the information (this will come in handy later) ask to be "completely" removed from their system & put on a Do Not Call List.
(b). You happen to be "Susan":
Tell them you do not Recognize them and you request that they send correspondence through post validating who they are as well as why they are contacting you, until then, they are not to call you again regarding this matter as it will be taken as harassment.
(Do not give or validate your address).
If you do not recognize the Company, it is likely you have no business with them. If you never signed a contract with THEM, you owe them nothing! (Collection companies are often sold non-collectable debts from other companies! Unless you re-negotiate the debt in question with this New company, you are not in business with them & you never agreed to pay them anything).
3. They send something in the mail (doesn't usually happen):
Now that you have a written letter from this company you should send them a formal certified "debt validation letter" to end future correspondence from them.
Under the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act, you are within your right to challenge the validity of a debt that a collection agency states you owe (never accept ownership of a debt without proper investigation & validation).
Search online for a sample "Debt Validation Letter", note: this is not a "Verification Letter", you want them to prove you owe this debt to THEM & that they are legally entitled to receive payment.
If they can not produce a contract signed by YOU agreeing to pay them,then you have no agreement with them. Any attempt to collect is an attempt to trick you into entering into a (new) agreement with their company.
Make sure you keep track of all the date/ times & from which #s they call. Each time they call say "this is my 3rd, 4th, 5th time requesting you to stop calling, this is harassment & if it continues I will be forced to take legal action against you."
If they do not stop calling, you have the right to sue them... Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, they must follow your request to cease communication.
Keep getting calls from a young girl stating she needed to have me served for a civil court matter. I have continued to ask them to stop calling me and hanging up on me..and leave my family alone. They are calling family members on their cell phones after being told over and over this isn't an accurate debt and please stop the harassing. I have never listed these family members as a reference with their cell phone numbers on any kind of loan. This is pure harassment and I don't know how to stop them and not sure who else they will call because this info was obviously contained illegally. I called the number they kept saying I needed to call, 844-620-8850 ...what a joke, scam, and pure idiot. I guy named Sam Jones answered and because I was repeating to him this was illegal calling me and family members when we have asked not to be called back...He said I was harassing him. Besides a good kick in the @$$...what can be done??!!
If they continue to bother you, and you know you do not owe any money, tell them that you know this is a debt scam and that you are making a complaint to the police for extortion. You might have to yell at the scammer and talk over him or her. Once you get a copy of the police report and they call you again , just read out the file number and the name of the PD or Sheriff’s office involved. Tell them you’ll be glad to send a copy to them at whatever address the jack***es are working out of now.
They called my Marine son about me. The Marine Corps has a no call list and investigation (fraud) unit that is now aware of them. They tried to tell my son he could pay $100 to settle the matter for me.
That was several months ago. They just tried my husband today.