"THIS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL?!" You are in luck because it is!.
This is a common ploy by criminals masquerading as debt collectors who are 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, be sued, and a variety of other variations on this, all for an alleged or nonexistent debt. One of the tricks they use is to call your work place, friends, or relatives repeatedly in an attempt to shame you into paying. They also use the “process server” ruse who calls and claims he is going to serve you, but then says you could avoid it by calling another number
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 of 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
First got an automated message saying there was a complaint filed against me, papers would be served, and left a case number to reference when I called back. I had to call back 5 times to get any semblance of an answer, because they kept hanging up on me! The case number they left in the message was about some guy that I don't even know. How this guy got associated with my telephone number I don't know--and they refused to tell me. All they said was my number was now removed
SO I got a call this morning and got the same routine. Just to [***] these [***] I have been calling back all day. There are getting really peeved but F'em. How dare they scam people and during the holiday season. I suggest calling them to drive them crazy....block your number and just keep hitting redial.
Called back and the guy said I needed to give them the case number, so I had nothing to give him because we have a phone message and half the crap was cut off.
I suggest everyone call them back and order pizza. Mess with them relentlessly.