The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, is warning consumers to be on the alert for scam artists posing as debt collectors. It may be hard to tell the difference between a legitimate debt collector and a fake one. Sometimes a fake collector may even have some of your personal information, like a bank account number. A caller may be a fake debt collector if he:
•is seeking payment on a debt for a loan you do not recognize;
•refuses to give you a mailing address or phone number;
•asks you for personal financial or sensitive information; or
•exerts high pressure to try to scare you into paying, such as threatening to have you arrested or to report you to a law enforcement agency.
If you think that a caller may be a fake debt collector:
•Ask the caller for his name, company, street address, and telephone number. Tell the caller that you refuse to discuss any debt until you get a written "validation notice." The notice must include the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor you owe, and your rights under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
If a caller refuses to give you all of this information, do not pay! Paying a fake debt collector will not always make them go away. They may make up another debt to try to get more money from you.•Stop speaking with the caller. If you have the caller's address, send a letter demanding that the caller stop contacting you, and keep a copy for your files. By law, real debt collectors must stop calling you if you ask them to in writing.
•Do not give the caller personal financial or other sensitive information. Never give out or confirm personal financial or other sensitive information like your bank account, credit card, or Social Security number unless you know whom you're dealing with. Scam artists, like fake debt collectors, can use your information to commit identity theft – charging your existing credit cards, opening new credit card, checking, or savings accounts, writing fraudulent checks, or taking out loans in your name.
•Contact your creditor. If the debt is legitimate – but you think the collector may not be – contact your creditor about the calls. Share the information you have about the suspicious calls and find out who, if anyone, the creditor has authorized to collect the debt.
•Report the call. Contact the FTC and your state Attorney General's office with information about suspicious callers. Many states have their own debt collection laws in addition to the federal FDCPA. Your Attorney General's office can help you determine your rights under your state's law.
i have been ignoring calls from this number for a few weeks. then the other day i come home and there is a sheriff, a tow truck and a guy sitting on my portch. he walks up and was real rude and tells me to open my garage because they are going to take my bike. then he says he knows its in there because they talked to my neighbors. he told me we has hired by sterling to take it for money i owe! this is nuts! they have to be stopped! they also have 888-740-8762
How about this one. The person says his name is Taylor Jones, but he's given me other names. [I swear this is true!] He has a second last name for me, the wrong name for my ex-husband, an address where I've never lived that he said I lived in 2001 (obviously I can prove otherwise)! Even if this were true (it is not) he is holding a debt more than eight years old. I tried to tell him he has the wrong person, but then he started screaming at me, extremely verbally abusive. I just kept repeating that he had the wrong person, and he kept screaming. I was trying to tell him not to call me again. When he kept screaming at me I said it anyway, even though I knew he wasn't listening. I said calmly, "You have the wrong person. Don't call this number any more." When I calmed down and thought about it I realized that I needed to give him that information in writing. I called back and asked him who he worked for and the address. He told me he didn't have to give me that information, and again got very loud and verbally abusive. When I kept repeating, "Who do you work for? What is the name of your company" he said I was getting abusive and he was hanging up on ME! He called me from FOUR different phone numbers from FOUR area codes! A week later I got another phone call from him only this time he gave me a different last name! A friend found this site from the phone number.
I got a call from Taylor Johnson. He gave us this number 888-740-8771. And he is saying that he and a county sheriff will be coming to our house for an investigation. So i do not know if this is true or not.
Yes I'm getting phone calls different numbers different people, screaming and yelling at me. Saying they are coming to get all my stuff. They need to be stopped