HARRIASSMENT AT MY WORK PLACE
Complaint
MARIA DOSS
Country: United States
This collections company keeps calling my job. I've told them time and time again to stop. I've suggested them to take me to court and to quit calling my job. I work in a call center the phone lines are for customers and family emergencies. I cannot have personal phone calls. They call very rude and unprofessional. I can't get any information their telephone number is 855-868-2577. Please make them stop calling my job before I get fired.
Comments
one time a pay day company wanted me to pay them sent a letter to my pay roll and they were going to pay them i had to report them to the attorney general here in cali
in order to garnish wages they have to take u to court and win they cant just garnish them and i told my pay roll that they are stupid because they were like we have to
i dont know where these people are getting my information from please help
This type of scam depends on both you and your emmpoyer not knowing this, and going along with it for fear of violating this fake "court order".
File fraud complaints with FTC, and your state Attorney General.
There are basically two groups of fake "payday loan debt collection" scams. One group, often run from overseas (probably India or Pakistan), makes heavy use of fake "payday loan application" websites to capture consumer identity information to use in this scheme. This typically gives them access to name, address, employer, SSN, even bank account number information, as that is often asked for on such forms, whether real or fake.
Some of the overseas scams appear to have a connection to overseas call centers, often in India or Pakistan, that may have once been connected with shady U.S. payday loan debt collectors, some of which were located in Florida before they were shut down by the Florida AG. This may have given them access to information on old payday loans from defunct lenders, and possibly to credit report information.
The Indian scammers are often easy to identify, by their thick accents, their over-the-top threats or "arrest" and "prosecution", and their use of incredibly concocted "investigative agency" names.
There are also a number of U.S. based scammers running similar scams. They may have set themselves up to appear to be legitimate "debt collectors", possibly even with state licenses and access to credit reports and skip trace services. They may be buying lists of old debt, but may be using it to shakedown anyone they can "locate" with a similar name anywhere in the country.
The typical pattern is to first call relatives pretending to be a "process server", to imply a "lawsuit" by implication. The goal is to get the intended victim to call back in a panic, and "settle" the alleged "debt" without any proof it's even owed.
In this case, "debt lists" are an excuse to keep them from being charged with extortion, but it's little different, as they generally use threats to deflect any attempts by targetted consumers to obtain validation. They have been known to extort payments on paid debts, debts include in bankruptcy, debts possibly owed by other people, even payments from the relatives they call first, to stop the victim from being "sent to jail".
Both of these types of shady "debt collectors" generally hide their locations. The overseas Indians use VoIP phone numbers that they keep changing every few months, and demand payment by Western Union or prepaid debit card, to hide their tracks. The U.S. based ones usually hide behind mail drops, and use multiple shell LLCs to cover their tracks. The shell LLCs can just be abandoned if sued.
As there is some possibility that they may be pulling consumer credit reports, you might check your credit reports for recent unrecognized inquiries.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/12/getecash.shtm
"For Release: 12/19/2011
Court Rules in Favor of FTC; Orders Defendants in Payday Lending Case to Pay More Than $294,000 for Illegal Garnishment of Consumers' Paychecks
..."
Does anyone know if they are legit?
They are effective tactics aimed at evading attempts at validation that might uncover that the alleged "debt" is not owed, or not owed to the harassing collection agency.
Legitimate collection agencies comply with state and federal law, including mailing notification of the debt within 5 days of first contact, and handling disputes by obtaining and sending validation from the original creditor.
Crooks ignore the law, and answer disputes with threats and lies.
Illegal collection, violating FDPCA, is an indicator of possible fraud.