Your account from Sears (don't have one) has been turned over to our collection agency. There are one of three ways we can handle this. Give me your debit card number or we're going to come to your house and your mom's house and send a detective to arrest you. (Keep calling my mom and threatening us.)
Your account from Sears (don't have one) has been turned over to our collection agency. There are one of three ways we can handle this. Give me your debit card number or we're going to come to your house and your mom's house and send a detective to arrest you. (Keep calling my mom and threatening us.)
They call family, friends, neighbors and/or places of employment (past or present or both) to create panic and embarrassment so that their intended victim calls them and they can scare that person into paying their extortion money.
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. Please note that process servers do not ever call ahead. That way you can’t dodge them.
Read up on your rights here 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://800notes.com/faq/attorney-general
Classic debt collection scam. Being in ordinary civil debt is NOT a crime and you cannot be arrested for it. This is an attempt to scare some money out of you. That "Sean" character sounds just like your typical NY small-town "Buffalo Bully" type debt collector. Ignore and block the call.
Just because someone on the phone calling you says you owe a debt does not mean you actually owe it.
If a voice on the telephone claims you owe a debt:
1. Demand the person give you his or her name, company name, and address
2. Demand a debt validation letter by US mail. E-mail no good.
3. Do not pay the collection agent or anyone else a dime until the debt is validated
Of course they won’t do this, no scammer ever will, so simply ignore them and block their calls.
If they are bothering you, report them:
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0149-debt-collection (Threatening civil proceedings with no intent to follow through, or threatening criminal process in order to collect a civil debt is a violation of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.) The same goes for endless telephone harassment
Also contact your local attorney general
If they continue to bother you, and you know you do not owe any money, tell them that you know this is a debt scam and that you are making a complaint to the police for extortion. Once you get a copy of the police report and they call you again , just read out the file number and the name of the PD or Sheriff’s office involved. Tell them you’ll be glad to send a copy to them at whatever address the jack***es are working out of now.
You'll probably have to yell at them and talk over them.
You have to get tuff with these people because, being akin to thugs, brute force is (metaphorically speaking), the only thing they understand.