Phishing
Complaint
Oldgringo
Country: United States
Collection agencies have implemented a new Phishing technique to gain access to individual credit records. They call frequently with a pre-recorded cryptic message that proclaims it isn't a marketing call and you are to call a number immediately. Dos o and they ask for an SSN.
What they then do is research a credit report and determine creditors.. they then solicit assignment from the creditors to collect what is owed.
They call incessantly as telemarketing call.. blindly with no real purpose other than to obtain ssn's so they can research who money is owed to.
Repeated attempts to stop them are nonsequitur.
What they then do is research a credit report and determine creditors.. they then solicit assignment from the creditors to collect what is owed.
They call incessantly as telemarketing call.. blindly with no real purpose other than to obtain ssn's so they can research who money is owed to.
Repeated attempts to stop them are nonsequitur.
Comments
The FTC long ago took the position (I think it was in an opinion letter in the 1990s), that debt collectors cannot just pull credit reports on consumers for whom they have no current right to collect a debt, and use the information on the report to solicit accounts from creditors. They would not have had permissible purpose to pull the report at the time it was pulled, even if later they obtained a debt owed by that consumer.
That said, there is no good reason to give your SSN to anyone calling you on the phone. Nor would their having your SSN be proof that any debt they are trying to collect is your debt, or legitimate, since they can pull your credit reports (whether legally or not) just for saying they have permissible purpose, and just get the SSN from them.
Have you pulled your own credit reports, and if so, are any unexpected collection accounts showing?
Have you received any collection letters?