Fraudulent Collection

ComplaintsCollection AgenciesACA RECOVERY/YELLOW PAGES

Complaint

0
Heather M.
Country: United States
I received a call from a Nina Jones, asking to speak to someone in Accts Payable or Jeff M. (the owner of our company).  I told her I could help.  She was polite and explained that she was with ACA Recovery and was calling about a debt that we owed to Yellow Pages Express in the amount of $725!  I asked her when the debt originated and she said Nov. 23, 2010.  I told her that our company doesn't advertise (we don't) and that we certainly do not advertise in any yellow pages.  She said she would put the claim into dispute and that YPE would have 30 days to provide me with the original written contract.  She said if they don't respond within 30 days, the claim will be closed.  We've had problems before with gullible employees authorizing charges with various yellow page solicitors, but this is not the case with this situation.  I haven't received a letter from anyone yet, but now I know that it's all a scam.  Glad I thought to look it up!

Comments

  • 0
    tj
    ACA Recovery has a history of complaints of attempts to collect on bogus "business directory accounts", including Yellow Pages Express as well as others.

    One of their clients was sued by FTC a couple years back, and is subject to a permanent injunction from a federal court, but even after that, complaints continued to indicate ACA Recovery was still collecting on their "accounts".

    As you know, it is a common scam to call up small businesses, and use deceptive scripts to try to record some employee saying something that can be fraudulently twisted into a "contract".  These are common fraudulent telemarketing scams, well known to FTC and Attorneys General, and they typically run under one name until they get too many complaints and then just change names.

    Don't expect any "written contract".  They might try to pass off some illegible faxed "order".  They might even make up a fake order using a current or past employee name, with no phone contact at all.  They might try to play some recorded excerpt of a phone call, misrepresenting it as "authorization".  This type of fraudulent telemarketing (often originating in Canada), often uses edited, doctored, truncated, or misrepresented phone recordings.

    File fraud complaints with FTC, your state AG, and at www.ic3.gov

    If you get any fraudulent bill by mail, either from ACA Recovery or Yellow Pages Express, file a mail fraud complaint with the U.S. Postal Inspector.

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