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 also asked for a debt validation letter, and I was also hung up on. The man began yelling at me over the phone, once I told him that his "business " is listed as a scam.
Calls several times and threatens to contact the HR dept of my company and follow all proper procedures for serving me at work. They want to verify my address is correct as well - they threaten to take me to court - daily let me know that this is my 3rd and final warning if I don't call by 5 pm today and then its always Good Luck in court!
Same scammy folks that previously called using 701-491-7809 and 406-272-1527. (Search those numbers on this site to get the lowdown). In short, they make vague, threatening sounding statements about serving you at work/home for an unspecified debt...or sometimes because they claim that your credit card is tied to some generic "fraud". Total and complete scam.
I called them back once (months ago) to try to make it very clear that we would not be giving them any personal info (they immediately try to demand SSN and addresses). to try to make them give up. They got very rude, and claimed to represent a "Berlinsky, Huffman & Levitt" (shocker, a web search for such a firm comes up with zero results). I should have realized it was a waste of time. They still call about once a month, always from a different number but always with the same garbage. Not sure if it's any good to continue reporting them, but will.
I received the same scamming threatening phone call this time with a man's voice to serve legal subpoena to your job or home it is a scam. Report to local PD. Bad collection practice.
The people calling from this number and a network of other spam phone numbers, using a variety of spins & angles that all allege that you owe them money, are nothing but a worthless crew of professional criminals. These criminals are so stupid that they give ultimatums that they cannot fulfill and when you call their bluff, they start all over again as if it's the first time they ever called you and somehow the next try on their part will result in you wiring them money. Do not indulge criminals and ignore them at all costs but log every call and every phony number that they call from. Remember, they are not nearly as smart as they think they are and things always catch up to those who deserve it. Little do they know that I really, really, really, really wish that they would serve me with legal papers as they have so diligently threatened for several months now because I would just love to make them try to prove their bogus claims in court and without question, I would file a countersuit - but of course that's all wishful thinking because they have to be for real first.