Also called my house asking for Janet and harassing me, he was extremely RUDE! I am not happy, I called back to ask for a supervisor or manager and he said he was one and I told him I was not happy with how he treated me on the phone and accused me of lying when I said I didn't know who Janet was and I wanted my phone number removed from the system and he said well I will contact so and so in the department and remove it, then added "Good Luck!"
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.>
Received a phone call from this number today (claimed his name was Bob Cleates, not sure on the last name as he refused to repeat it) stating I wrote a bad check in the amount of 550 back in 2008 and if I didn’t pay them within 45 minutes they would have the police at my door to arrest me. I asked them who they worked for and the said something (couldn’t understand) financial. I asked who he claimed I wrote the bad check to and he said he said Harris Bank. I asked for an account number and he said he would transfer me to a different agent. When he transferred me it went to straight to voicemail so I called back and said I got a voicemail and he said hold on I have to walk outside to transfer you, when I was transferred a woman got on the phone and said she couldn’t find my file and said, “I’m going to need your social security number for verification, your whole social security number" at which point I asked her if she thought I was stupid. At this point she began to yell and get hostile demanding I give her the information so she could look-up my file. I told her and her friends needed to do a better job at trying to rip people off and I would be reporting them the FTC and Attorney General’s office and hung up.
I received a call a few hours later from 901-300-2833, I was busy and missed the call but called back and got the voicemail of Bobby Collins (woman’s voice) and left he a very short and sweet message letting her know I would be reporting them first thing in the morning.