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.>
These people been trying to call me for months now. I had someone still my social and take out money from an online loan. These idiots are one of the many that keep calling me. They use like 5 different numbers. 1-877-832-7292 , 1-877-832-8307 , 1-877-332-2328, 1-877-832-6316. They sometimes leave u a message saying they served u with papers yesterday at your job or home and they need to go over page whatever of the packet they gave u. thats bull they are trying to scare u. You can tell its an old message. And they never gave me anything.
got a call today from chris jensen stating they have made numerous attempts to reach me by phone and mail which is not true and request for me to call them at 877-832-7292 in regards to this matter. supposingly they served me at work or at home not really sure which. i don't know who they served and where but i did not get served anything anywhere.
recieved two phone calls from this number but have been contacted by the same CO using different NY area codes. this crap is a S-C-A-M!! do NOT reply to their calls, dont give them any information whatsoever, and dont be fooled by what they tell you. these frauds try to scare you into thinking you owe money and pull these fear tactics to try and flip you over some cash. AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!