fradulant verizon bill
Complaint
gina simmons
Country: United States
I have just received a collection notice from Afni Inc that states I owe $246.85 to verizon. This account is said to be from 1999. I don't owe verizon anything.When asked why if I owed this then why haven't I heard anything until now. The Afni employee said that gte was taken over by verizon, and that the files had not been audited in the last 5-10 years. This Afni company has now bought these files, but have no notes on any bills that have or have not been paid. I could not beleive that people could get away with this scam. I have filed a better buisness report, and have found out the statue of limitations law in my state. It was very helpful, and I now know my rights under the laws to proctect people from monsters like Afni. I have had a verizon account for the last past 5 years,and have never had any problems. It's unfortunate that a company like Afni is smearing the Verizon name.
Comments
As you would expect, the account data contained lots of errors, but this made no difference to AFNI. They just sent out millions of letters every month for most of 2007 and into 2008, billing anyone who had a similar name that they could find anywhere in the country. You can still find consumer complaints from that era, with reports of ridiculous "name matches", allegations of accounts in cities or states people never lived in, complaints by people billed only because they once lived at some address where an account was later opened, and many complaints of being stonewalled.
When consumers called, trying to find what this unknown bill was about, their employees made up bullsh*t, often claiming "it must be id theft by a relative, but unless you prosecute your relative, you have to pay it". They even targetted this scam at kids who had just become adults, claiming they "owed" some account opened when they were 8 or 9. This ruse was aimed at intimidating consumers into paying the many bills they had no intention of proving were owed (probably because they weren't), and it probably worked in many cases.
One study of FTC id theft complaints looked at 3 months in 2007, and found that among company names associated with id theft complaints to FTC, Verizon was #1, with AFNI #2. Both had shot up to the top, way above 2006 levels, and way above the nearest debt collector at the bottom of the top 25. High "id theft" rates against Verison and AFNI continued into 2008. It looked statistically like an id theft crime wave was hitting Verizon.
Another typical AFNI tactic was to send out a deceptive brush-off letter in response to validation requests, claiming that unless the consumer provides some proof of their dispute, AFNI couldn't proceed to investigate. This deception falsely implied that the consumer had to prove the debt wasn't owed, rather than what FDCPA requires, that they check with the original creditor and obtain and send proof themselves.
They got sued for that one, in 2008, with a 3 state class action lawsuit by Edelman and Combs, out of Chicago, including many class members from the peak 2007 period. A couple years ago, a federal judge in that case ruled the letter was deceptive, noting that AFNI's letter left consumers with no clue as to how to proceed to resolve a dispute, basically deceptively implying they couldn't or had no right to. He noted that they even mailed it to people who weren't disputing anything at all.
Another little incident is their run-in with the Minnesota Attorney General. In 2008, they were sued over attempts to collect unowed Verizon debts from MN residents, and again failing to provide validation. They settled about a year later, but were investigated again shortly after, this time for the same problem with alleged Qwest accounts. Qwest and AFNI both said they didn't know how this could be happening, but Qwest recently settled with MN AG, paid a fine, and said they would see that it doesn't happen again.
You letter is a pretty typical brush-off. It is deceptive because it makes no logical sense so it "verifies" nothing except they made a "mistake", yet they send it anyway claiming you owe it, even through BBB.
By the way, they joined BBB in 2007, at the peak of their complaints. It appears that they can deal with consumer complaints more quietly through BBB than if consumers sent complaints to state AGs. They pay BBB to get their "A" rating, as "nonaccredited" companies can only get ratings below "A".
The BBB "arbitration" program they claim to be subject to is virtually worthless to the consumer, as federal protections under FDCPA allow the courts to award statutory and actual damages plus attorney fees, with the case heard by a federal judge with experience in the law, while binding arbitration would only allow whatever both sides agree to before entering the process. You want an attorney, you pay for your own, as compared to FDCPA allowing the court to award your attorney fees on top of your damages. Looks real good, but just provides great cover for business as usual.
One of their most common deceptions is to send a "verification" letter that "verifies" nothing the consumer has disputed, but implies that it has. For example, in these "id theft" cases, a consumer might dispute that the debt is not his, yet would get a letter very similar to what you got. Note that NOTHING is included directly from Verizon showing the original account information, actual service address, or whatever, or anything else that might disclose with certainty that this is not your account, yet AFNI will just say they checked it, and this much is owed. Again, just sidestep providing any proof that an account might not be owed, but in a way that you can deny and claim it was a "mistake" if you get caught.
Your BBB letter contains AFNI's usual style of weasel language. Note that it implies they checked with ATT, yet it doesn't actually say they did. It actually doesn't say they did checking at all, and may only refer to whatever records they already had from ATT, if that. Without a copy of a statement from ATT, you can't prove they did or didn't check anything, and they made sure they didn't send ANY ATT documentation. Sent in response to your dispute and validation request (which is what you sent through BBB), if that is all it really is, then it is deceptive and fraudulent, attempting to collect without actually validating while falsely implying they had, but they typically reply in such a vague manner that it's hard to nail them to their lies since they are lies of ommition.
If you haven't done so, send a dispute letter directly to AFNI, certified, disputing the debt. Also contact ATT's fraud department to verify that there is no outstanding account under your name and SSN, or associated with your "still-current address" and that their claim of this account at your address is fraudulent. Then file fraud complaints with FTC and your state AG, and look for a consumer attorney.
You might try www.naca.net
Kindly advise a way out.
Kindly advise a way out to my email address: madhuaryal@gmail.com
Dispute the erroneous negative account information, in writing, with the CRA. They will forward your dispute to the data furnisher (probably AFNI, if this is an old Verizon account), and if the data furnisher "verifies" the account as accurate, rather than removing it, you can then sue them for violating FCRA.
Get an attorney and sue them. There are attorneys who take such cases on contingency, since FCRA and FDCPA allow courts to award attorney fees. You might try www.naca.net
You may also wish to file complaints with FTC, the Illinois AG, and the New York AG.
Get an attorney.
You can find one through www.naca.net
Since you never ordered this phone, there are generally 2 possibilities:
1) Someone opened an account or ordered a phone in your name. In this case, dispute the account with AFNI, in writing, mailed certified, and file a police complaint for identity theft. If AFNI claims you owe it,then send a copy of your police report to back up your claim of fraud. If you have further problems, get an attorney and sue AFNI for collecting on a fraudulent account in violation of FCRA/FACTA.
2) AFNI may have randomly selected you as the lucky person they claim "owes" this alleged account. They do this a lot, just computer matching anyone with a similar name, or even living at the account address at some time, and claiming they "owe" the alleged debt. They may have just pulled your own credit report to get your SSN, and are fraudulently claiming "your SSN" is attached to the account. Again, dispute the account with AFNI, in writing mailed certified, and get an attorney and sue them if they fraudulently claim you "owe" an account you never opened.
If you want to find whether it's really identity theft, or if AFNI is lying, contact Verizon's fraud department and have them check whether there is an account under your name and SSN. If not, then AFNI "fixed" the account by adding your SSN.
The only reason they will do so is to have some advantage against you, whether any debt is legitimate or not. It's a lie of omission, since although federal law requires that they notify you in writing of your right to dispute and obtain proof of any alleged debt, they only have to send you that notice within 5 days of their first contact.
If they can get you to pay on their first phone call, they don't have to even send any letter.
If they send some letter somewhere else, to an old address or someone else, then call you "by mistake", or even just pretend they sent a letter, they can collect without consumers having any awareness of their dispute rights, despite federal law. They typically lie by half-truths, like "we can't get any documentation" or "we don't have to send you anything", leaving out the critical legal requirement that if you dispute and they can't validate they have to go away unless and until they do.
Most consumers have no clue, and the debt collection industry takes advantage of that, jealously defending their "right to lie".
To me it seems like a way to confuse the customer. Someone who doesn't pay attention and doesn't look at their previous bills and payments may mistakenly believe what Verizon says is due and so pays twice the same balance.