Consumers across the country report that they're getting telephone calls from people trying to collect on loans the consumers never received or on loans they did receive but for amounts they do not owe. Others are receiving calls from people seeking to recover on loans consumers received but where the creditors never authorized the callers to collect for them. So what's the story?
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.>
Keep receiving calls from this number with a stupid recording stating that if you continue on line it means you are the person they are looking for. Doesn't work well with answering machine. In the past 2 months have spoken to whoever answers back stating the person they are "looking" for does not live here and to take our home phone off their call list. Still continueing to receive their calls. The person that answers is supposedly Leon Edwards who claims he has put the do not call info in but it takes time and doesn't even ask who you are.
I don't know who this company is but would like to report them to our Attorney General in Michigan to see what can be done to avoid all of these "fishing expeditions". Any help?
both of my land-line phones received this recorded message within minutes of each other:
"Yes, I have an important message from Commercial Recovery Systems. Please contact Jennifer Manning at 1-888-978-5193. Thank you." Caller ID name is "unknown".
I researched the company and phone number and this is a collection agency with many complaints against it with the BBB and others. Since no one has any outstanding loans and the recorded messages did not address us by name, and the toll-free number and the 469- 453- 8183 do not trace back to Commercial Recovery Systems I am guessing this is either fake debt collectors or some other scam.