Harassing Phone Calls...Question

[housemouse]

Statute of limitations on old debts is 7 years. It's a scam, pure and simple. Scammers are absolutely everywhere these days. I got an interesting email from "irs.gov" this week telling me that my tax return had not been accepted. Quite amusing since they cashed the big, fat check I wrote them several months ago. They wanted all kinds of personal info from me including a photocopy of my driver's license. I really wanted to photoshop a driver's license with a picture of king Kong and an address in Nigeria and send it back to them.

 

[kellyg403]

I agree with others, don't give out any information and let them prove it to you.

About 3 years ago, I kept getting the same types of calls, I would answer and noone would be there. Finally a person was on the other end. Apparently this company had a debt I owed for magazines from the 90's. 98 to be exact. I didn't remember purchasing any magazines and told them I needed the debt in writing as I do not do anything over the phone. They kept saying they had been sending letters with no results and now the time had come to pay up asap. Anyway. long story short the address the person quoted me I had not lived at since 1992 and it was in a different state. I knew it was a scam then!

I contacted the Attorney General and I never heard from them again. I googled the name of the company, which by the way, was a bogus lawyer's firm and found several complaints for the scam. No lawyers in the company and they were mostly scamming elderly people.

Its ridiculous what people out there will do and I feel so bad for the elderly as they are a huge target from what I understand. The lady I spoke to said that is the biggest problem. They will pay the debt, not remembering if they had the service or what not but are scared of the collector who often times will be rude, threatening their home etc.

Kelly

 

[rock_doctor]

They wanted all kinds of personal info from me including a photocopy of my driver's license. I really wanted to photoshop a driver's license with a picture of king Kong and an address in Nigeria and send it back to them.

Naw, you need to fake a CIA ID and send them that or at least King Kong has to have a New York address.... I hate to say it but the world economy is starting to fall apart and you are going to see more of these kinds of things. They will get more creative and harder to determine if they are in fact real or fake. Gone are the nigerian email scams, "Dear Sir i am a banker in...". Now with the internet anybody anyplace in the world can pull your credit report and nearly all personal information. I just trash everything that does not come from somebody i am dealing with at this moment in time plus everything gets shredded before going in the trash.

 

[bpesch]

It may not just be a mistake, it may be a scam. I do not give out any information over the phone, period. If the call is legitimate, they can send you something in writing. Keep telling them that and hang up each and every time they call after saying it.

There is a link to report these types of calls at this website--http://transition.fcc.gov/cgb/donotcall/ It's under the How to Complain section about half way down the page.

Look the information over before your next call and gather what you need from caller ID and the call to fill out the form. I would do it each and every time I got a call from them.

 

[MomToOne]

I'm with a lot of other posters - this has scam written all over it.

Thanks to someone else who had my phone number 5 years ago, I field a LOT of phone calls from collection agencies. NONE of them have behaved like this.

Forget telling them they need to prove the debt, etc. - DON'T TALK TO THEM AT ALL! And forget telling them the "rules" - obviously they have no fear of not following the fair credit act because they aren't really collectors!

Call your phone company and see if they can block the number they are calling from.

They are hoping you will get flustered enough to give them bank account info for them to withdraw "payment" (at which point they will clean out your account) or get you to give other identifying info they can use to steal your identity.

 

[*Seanaci*]

DItto what others have said.

Next time they call, ask for mailed statment of the balance they are asking for. Most creditors will happily provide this for you (as it means they'll be getting a payment if it is indeed owed).

However, and I know there are people on here who can correct me if I am wrong...but if something like that goes uncollected for a length of time, doesn't it eventually fall off your report and you aren't responsible for it anymore?

 

[SalandJeff]

If it is not on your credit report, don't even give it a second thought. Just don't answer the phone. Yes, you can tell them not to call, to send you validation, etc., but why aggravate yourself talking to someone who is going to yell at you. I also have the phones that let you block up to 30 numbers - they are a great idea.

Several years ago, I was getting harassing phone calls and called the phone company to see what I could do about it. They told me to dial something like *57 immediately after I received a phone call and their "security department" would get some kind of notice.

Just an FYI - this won't work on 800 #s like this.

 

[dreamin_disney]

I've been receiving phone calls from a toll free number for the last couple of days. The first dozen times I picked up there was no one there. Yesterday I finally heard somone on the line and kept talking until they responded.

This person claimed to be from a collection agency. He said he respresented Lowes and I had an outstanding debit on a credit card I had back in 2000! He told me I needed to pay $700+ immediately.

Now I did have a card back in the late 90s. I had it before I married, so I know I only had it for a couple of years. I know I paid it off and closed it shortly after getting married.

I have never had any ding from Lowes on my credit report. We bought houses in 2002 and 2008 and I know we really scoured our reports prior and corrected any mistakes before applying for loan rates.

I told him this must be a mistake. He proceeded to become a big jerk and start threatening me. He told me he needed me to prove this. He also told me to pay anyway, then try to receive a credit afterward. I refused.

I asked for a written statement to be mailed. He just keep pushing me to pay.

Since then I've been getting calls practically every 20 minutes.

Anyway I can stop these calls? I know they must not fall under the telemarketing, no call list law.

Plus, how am I going to prove that I paid a credit card off almost 12 years ago?

TIA

Fox news ran a story a few days ago. i pulled this one up, its not he story i saw but the same senerio. These fakers are threatening people and scary them by saying they know whwere they live and they will hurt their family. Boy pretty scarey but thats how they collect money.

http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/investigative/phone-fakers-debt-collection-scams-20110502

if this link doesnt wotk just search fox 11 news phone scams


I always get calls for collections reagarding my sister I dont answer because I looked up the number and its one of those collection that will bug you . Its always a recording so we nolonger answer the phone. I already did the do not call list and I have to wait so many days and if they call again I can report them.


oh and the news report said these scammers get their list from people who click on links online to get online loans that pop up in ads so becareful

 

[dawson5]

This was in our newspaper yesterday:

http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/sbt-scam-call-takes-nasty-turn-20110713,0,4251911.story

BREMEN -- Even scam callers can be rude these days.

Mariam Ritter of Bremen has received several automated calls recently, wanting to talk to her about her credit card.

The recording says nothing is wrong but asks whether she might be interested in having a lower interest rate.

Ritter usually just hangs up because she always pays her bills in full when they are due.

But on Sunday, she decided to play along and punched “9” on her phone. She wanted to get a real person so she could tell them she wasn’t interested in a lower interest rate.

She was hoping her action might stop additional phone calls in the future.

A man answered the phone. “And I told him I am not interested in a lower interest rate. It can be (0) percent and I don’t care and I wish you would quit calling me,” Ritter said.

She was surprised at the answer.

Expletive, expletive, expletive.

A few expletives later, she hung up.

She then called her credit card companies, and they told her they would not make such a call.

She called several friends, and learned they too had received similar calls.

She called some media but not the police.

Phil Steele, reserve officer with the Bremen Police Department, said Monday, people should call the police even if they don’t fall prey to the scam.

He suggested they try to get any information. “Even if they can’t, just call us and let us know those types of things are going on,” he said.

Bremen police usually get only about 12 to 15 calls a year from the public reporting such scams, he said.

Steele wants to remind the public that your credit card company or bank already have your account number and other personal information so they won’t be asking you for it.

“That’s not how they are going to verify your information,” he added.

The problem, of course,
is sometimes people slip up
and do give out a credit card number.

At that point, for the criminal, it’s off to the races.

Ritter did call the Better Business Bureau but was not able to reach them.

“I just thought people should be alerted,” she said. “Not many people would call (the media). They just wouldn’t think of raising a ruckus.”

I've had issues reporting calls to the "Do Not Call" list. I've been on it since Indiana first introduced one and the national one. Seems ineffectual, especially as they obfuscate the number, making it impossible to trace and log a complaint about them. The article encourages people to call the police, not sure if this is any more effective, but it's something I'm willing to try.