Collector - Alliance Group. What is interesting is that I don't know the person for who the call is intended. The voice mail said that they had a civil case with that person's name and social security number and they needed to return the call. It also stated that the call was their official notification. How can they do that? They had the wrong number? Poor person.
Collector - Alliance Group. What is interesting is that I don't know the person for who the call is intended. The voice mail said that they had a civil case with that person's name and social security number and they needed to return the call. It also stated that the call was their official notification. How can they do that? They had the wrong number? Poor person.
It wasn't anything official. :)
It was a terrible attempt to extort money from that individual. Block the number if you can, but if you don't answer, eventually they'll figure out you aren't willing to bite, and move on to another victim.
And should this company contact you, some things to remember;
-Private Companies cannot issue arrest warrants.
Only those in the judicial system can issue warrants. They need to be petitioned by attorneys, and signed off by a judge.
-Debt is civil. not criminal. You cannot be arrested for ordinary debt in the United States and Canada. There are no debtors prisons here.
-If there were an arrest warrant with your name on it, your local courthouse would have it. Look up the number independently, and call them. People have been taking this advice for a long time. And guess what? No one has had a warrant issued. :)
-IF THERE WERE, however, no one will EVER call you to tell you they are coming to arrest you, or serve you papers. Process servers only get paid if they deliver your paperwork, and if you hide, they won't get paid, so, they won't tell you they're coming.
-ALSO, if there were "criminal" or "financial" proceedings against you, it's too late to pay anyone. The deed has been been done. The proverbial wheels are in motion.
-Money sent by 'untraceable means' (cash cards, western union) is money that cannot be traced. I know that sounds obvious, but by the time you figure out you've been scammed, you have no way to figure out who collected that money. It's gone forever. You can't dispute it.
-Threats of arrest, losing your drivers license, putting holds on SSN's, demanding attorney contact information and other things like that are common scare tactics used by "debt collectors" who are trying to collect on a debt they cannot legally collect on. If they COULD legally collect on the debt, they wouldn't have to resort to scare tactics.
And perhaps most importantly -
-REAL debt collectors will send you (because they are required to, by law) a 'DEBT VALIDATION'. This is sent through the mail (USPS) with a stamp on it (e-mail, fax, texts, carrier pigeon, smoke signals...none of those count) and tell you when you incurred the debt, to whom you owe the original debt, and how to proceed if you don't think you owe the amount, or if your records reflect a different amount. Remember, this is REQUIRED BY LAW to be sent to you within 5 days from initial contact (on the company behalf) DEMAND THEY SEND YOU THIS!!! This will immediately weed out the scammers.
Slim posted this above, but it's worth a second post----
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0149-debt-collection
This link takes you to the FTC's website and gives you all the rules debt collectors must follow. It also (at the bottom) provides links to where you can report any debt collector who isn't following the law.
They have called for me, my wife, and somebody I do not even know on the same number. I wasted 15 minutes of time with them and here is some of the top ridiculous things they said.
1)Since the payday company is out of state it is a crime over state lines.
2)Even though this was 7-8 years ago a new statute of limitations started just now for fraud.
3)They are not collecting on a debt. They are simply a mediation firm- who is collecting on the debt lol.
4)I owe $1600 for the loan, interest, attorney fees, and filing charges but they will knock it down to $500.
5)It does not matter if I deny having any loan. They have all my identification and their attorney will easily beat me in court.
6)Since the money on the payday loan was not available when it came time to pay this is like a NSF check and is a crime.
7)Even though I have over a dozen years experience in collection matters, have worked with the FTC on a criminal collection matter, and helped half a dozen attorney generals I am nothing but an armchair attorney and know nothing.