good to know others are reporting this debt collection service which choses not to obey the fdcpa. i got a call friday from this number, asking for a person with a certain korean name. I truthfully told them I don't know anyone by that name and I've had this number (which has been a cellphone number for 2 years) for 5 years, and that for months I've been telling people who call under that subterfuge the same thing and not to call me again. The caller acknowledged being in debt collection (tho not the company name) and said they'd only had the account since november 3 and would not call back.
I'm not holding my breath, since the calls escalated after I reported some of my health insurance company's unethical practices to Virginia, the state that insurer insists is most favorable to them in not enforcing its laws and regulations (tho the insurer also boasts of its friends among "all regulators" state and federal and told me to check my policy's gag provisions while advertising both its "quality" and affiliation with United Healthcare and its big-data practices). Yup, I'm crazy enough to still refuse to pay a bill backed by altered electronic medical records, although my health insurer wins (as it says it always does) because I'm not getting treated for the medical condition it diagnosed soon after I subscribed (fyi it insists on its property right on keeping my diagnosis date as that of the first multi-party complaint letter, all hand-delivered and mailed copies of which my insurer says it never received)
I just received a call from this company. To my knowledge, I do not owe anyone any money. I tried to get them to tell me who they were collecting for. The man became very foul mouthed, calling me a "[***]" and that I had better watch out, for he knows where my 10 year old daughter goes to school and wouldn't want anything "bad to happen to her"! These people are totally SICK. Even if I DID owe someone a debt, you don't threaten CHILDREN!!!!
They used a similar tactic to get my cell phone number from my unsuspecting mother (how they got her number I don't know, unless they are using something like zabasearch to find relatives).
Today was the first call I got from this number, only rang twice and left no voicemail. I've been getting calls from other 713 area code numbers in addition to the 800-741-2100 number. The first few times that the agent (Lisa Bartholemew) talked to me, she seemed friendly and willing to help me pay off a debt that I was tricked into thinking I still owed (a debt that was taken care of by a foreclosure). After a few weeks of her not making any progress with me (and my thinking that I didn't really owe the debt any more), she started getting nasty and I haven't picked up any numbers that I don't recognize since. I just hope that I didn't say anything to her in the two weeks of conversation that would even remotely imply to them that I think I owe anyone that money. She told me that it would hurt my credit to not make the payments, but I checked my credit report and there's nothing showing up on there for LTD (except a note that they checked my credit last November, which by the way I did not authorize). It seems to me like a scam, targeted at people with recent credit issues that could be tricked into paying up on something they don't really owe.
Report this incident to the Texas, and your state's Attorney General's office and also the Federal Trade Commission asap. If you happen to have that bit about threatening your daughter call the police also.