Got a call from this number saying i owed money for a gym membership i cancelled years ago. Heavy accent and very persistent on me paying right there on the phone.
All debt collectors are required by law to send you a DEBT VALIDATION. This is sent through the USPS ONLY (email, text, faxes, carrier pigeons, smoke signals...none of those count) and state when you incurred the debt, to whom you owe the original debt, and how to proceed should you not recognize the amount.
This must be sent within 5 days of the first time the company attempts to contact you.
REAL DEBT COLLECTORS SEND THIS. Scammers do not.
A few other things to know-
-You cannot be arrested for ordinary debt in the United States.
-Process servers do not call in advance. They only get paid if they deliver you papers the court (not a private company) has ordered be delivered, and if you flee, they don't get paid. Therefore, they do not call ahead of their arrival.
-Likewise, officers do not call you to tell you they will be arresting you. Why would they?
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0149-debt-collection
This link contains all the rules debt collectors must follow, and includes links where you can report criminals who choose not to follow the law
I answered and didn't say hello or anything, I just stayed silent, to weed out automated dialing. No hello they hang up automatically or saying Hi will do the same as it thinks your an answering machine, but silent works best. Anyway, I stayed silent for about 45 seconds, and so did they hahaha so I hung up. Best conversation lol none at all.
They called my sister in laws phone for me, don't know how they got her number (?) she called me and told me. When I called them they said I had numerous addresses? Wouldn't give me any information, said they were a debt collector before they answered, did not identify themselves as a debt collector, the name of their company, all foreigners, then got extremely rude when I asked them to identify themselves called me a B word and hung up on me. The person who called my sister in law for me was named Azeem. It's a call center supposedly located in NJ with the number 1-732-305-8100