Help! Bill collectors are calling wrong number every day!

[robinb]

Help! A family member is getting daily robocalls from a collection agency looking for her grown daughter. The daughter opened up an account (I don't know what kind) in her own name but with her mother's address and phone number. The daughter has not lived with the mother for over 10 years, so I assume that the account is not from back when she lived there. The collection agency is calling every single day except Sunday looking for the daughter. This is not the first time this has happened to the mother but she succeeded in getting everyone else to leave her alone. This agency keeps on calling even though she said she told them to stop. She now just hangs up on the robocalls instead of talking to the bill collectors.

What can she do to make the calls stop?

 

[momrek06]

Not sure if this is any help.....

I just moved to CA and was given a number by COX (our land line phone carrier for this area). Well within the first 24 hours the calls started coming in for Adrienne Xyz. I would quickly just say, "No Adrienne here" and hang up. It got worse and now I am asking who is calling and who are you with. They were collection agencies. The people calling were glad to give me their name and their business' name. They appeared to NOT believe me and I insisted I was NOT Adrienne.

Finally, I called COX I gave them the business' name as well as the contacts name and told them they are looking for Adrienne Xzy and that I am assuming she used to have THIS number. Cox handled the entire situation as well as a follow up call to me that the calls would stop. Have not had a call asking for Adrienne in months!!

Have the person call their phone carrier and see if they can help.

 

[plutolovr]

Your friend should give them her daughter's "real" number. Explain the situation, she does not live there, etc.

 

[soupy11]

Well, I would just have fun with them and make up new games to waste their time. Have them spell the person's name sloooooowly. Then read it back in the wrong order. Ask them to hang on, you have to answer the door and then set the phone down for the evening....
I could go on and on, but you get the point, have fun with it! I know I would....

 

[JB111107]

i put the phone down by my speakers and start playing Rush Limbaugh. Doesn't take long before they hang up.

 

[tzolkin]

We are having the same problem.

We let a cousin of mine stay with us for a month or so while she was in the process of moving to the area two years ago. It was not a good situation and we really have not talked to her or seen her since. Now I keep getting all these calls for her (I know they are bill collectors). The first few my DH and I just responded "No XYZ lives here, you must have the wrong number" and end the call, but they just keep calling every few days. Finally yesterday I explained to the person that she stayed here a few years ago, but she does not live here and I don't have her phone number. I offered to verify the cousin's address so they could contact her by mail, but they weren't interested in that. She just kept asking if she could leave her name and number and if I could have my cousin call her back. I explained multiple times that I do not speak to this person and I have no idea what her phone number is, so how would I relay the message?

 

[robinb]

Your friend should give them her daughter's "real" number. Explain the situation, she does not live there, etc.

Yeah, that's what I would do but I don't think the mother is willing to do that (yet).

If she contacts them by mail do they have to stop calling?

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Someone I supervised at work gave my phone number as a reference when setting up her electric, gas and phone. I barely even knew her. She had my number because she looked it up in the phone book and called me at home one evening when she had an emergency and wouldn't be to work the next day.

I didn't even know about it until I started getting phone calls looking for her (she had since left the company) because she gave me as a reference.

Everyone but the gas company stopped calling me after I explained the situation. I called my phone company, explained the situation and asked if that number could be blocked at no charge. They did it and the last of the calls stopped.

So I'd suggest calling the phone company with the phone number of the people bugging her and asking them to block it at no charge.

 

[agnes!]

Your friend should give them her daughter's "real" number. Explain the situation, she does not live there, etc.

Yeah, that's what I would do but I don't think the mother is willing to do that (yet).

If she contacts them by mail do they have to stop calling?

Nothing personal, but why not? Her own daughter is willing to throw to the wolves. Why should a scam artist/con artist/criminal get any protection just because she's a family-member? That didn't stop *her* from damaging a fellow family-member's credit and time at home.

Oh yeah, I just bet that Suzy ScamsALot has opened accounts in her mother's name and possibly already started to ruin her mother's credit. The mother needs to check out her own credit report and put a fraud alert on her file.

I'm so sorry for your friend, the situation sounds horrible, so very sad for the mom.

agnes!

 

[JessR]

ya that sucks, those bots are the worse. They call every other minute all day.

 

[robinb]

Nothing personal, but why not? Her own daughter is willing to throw to the wolves. Why should a scam artist/con artist/criminal get any protection just because she's a family-member? That didn't stop *her* from damaging a fellow family-member's credit and time at home.

Oh yeah, I just bet that Suzy ScamsALot has opened accounts in her mother's name and possibly already started to ruin her mother's credit. The mother needs to check out her own credit report and put a fraud alert on her file.

agnes!

I don't think she opened accounts in the mother's name since the mother is not getting calls for herself ... just for "Suzy". In addition, the mother already has a fraud alert because her purse was taken and her identity was stolen. The thieves tried to open up a number of charge accounts with the info they found in the purse .

If it were up to me, I would not protect "Suzy" ... but it's not up to me. I am hoping for another solution from the smart folks here on the DIS .

 

[C.Ann]

Yeah, that's what I would do but I don't think the mother is willing to do that (yet).

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If she's not willing to do that, then obviously it's not bothersome enough for her to want it to stop.. She has a very simple solution - she's just choosing not to use it..

 

[Arielx2]

I don't think she opened accounts in the mother's name since the mother is not getting calls for herself ... just for "Suzy". In addition, the mother already has a fraud alert because her purse was taken and her identity was stolen. The thieves tried to open up a number of charge accounts with the info they found in the purse .

If it were up to me, I would not protect "Suzy" ... but it's not up to me. I am hoping for another solution from the smart folks here on the DIS .

I was getting calls for someone with my name and who lived in the same state. They gave me the last known address and asked if I had lived there. Nope. Last four of SS. Nope, not me, but that didn't stop them from calling. Finally I called the phone company and changed our #, made it unlisted and put it in my husbands name. No more phone calls.

 

[agnes!]

I don't think she opened accounts in the mother's name since the mother is not getting calls for herself ... just for "Suzy". In addition, the mother already has a fraud alert because her purse was taken and her identity was stolen. The thieves tried to open up a number of charge accounts with the info they found in the purse .

If it were up to me, I would not protect "Suzy" ... but it's not up to me. I am hoping for another solution from the smart folks here on the DIS .

Are you-all certain Suzy wasn't somehow involved in the robbery?

Yea, I'm suspicious...sorry, but if Suzy is smart enough to give her mother's info to creditors she's smart (or dumb) enough to pull some other nasty stunts. It's a good thing there's a fraud alert on the mom's file. A *very* good thing.

Sorry, but I got nothin' for you....maybe someone else has some ideas to get the erroneous robo-calls off your family-member's back.

agnes!

 

[stashbin]

We just bought a new house in October and as soon as we got our new number we were bombarded with solicitors, the local Welcome Wagon, just all kinds of people. We are still getting out of town numbers and 800 numbers ringing our phone off of the hook. I do answer the phone sometimes just to see who it is and most of the time it is a robot....or better..THEY HANG UP!

Seriously...I'm with the OP....how can I make these annoying, unwanted phone calls stop?

 

[harleyquinn]

Is she on the Do Not Call registry? If she is, she can file a complaint with them after receiving more than one call.

We go through this every couple of months because of my brother. We tell them that no one by that name lives there, we have no way of contacting him, and if they call again we will file a claim with the DNC, and they don't call back.

 

[Rence]

The person receiving the calls needs to get as much information about the company calling as possible, they could even do it under the pretext of being helpful. If they have caller ID, record the number that shows up there. Then ask the person calling what organization they represent, company name and address, get a phone number etc., if they balk, just say "I'm not going to help you unless I know who you are". Then ask them specifically what it is about, what the debt is, how much etc. try to get them to give you as much info as possible

Then explain that the person they are trying to contact does not live there and has not lived there for years and that they aren't going to pass along the information and that they are to stop calling at once. And furthermore, sharing information about someone else's debt is a violation of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, as is making harassing phone calls etc. and if any further phone calls are received a complaint will be filed.

If it continues file a complaint with the FTC under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1601, et. seq. Section 806 of the FDCPA prohibits "any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt." The "any person" and "in connection with" parts are interpreted pretty broadly, and you don't have to be the "consumer," i.e., the individual holding the debt, to be protect by section 806. Specifially included as a violation of that section is "[c]ausing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number

The complaint can be filed on-line at:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

 

[robinb]

Are you-all certain Suzy wasn't somehow involved in the robbery?

Yea, I'm suspicious...sorry, but if Suzy is smart enough to give her mother's info to creditors she's smart (or dumb) enough to pull some other nasty stunts. It's a good thing there's a fraud alert on the mom's file. A *very* good thing.

Sorry, but I got nothin' for you....maybe someone else has some ideas to get the erroneous robo-calls off your family-member's back.

agnes!

Thanks for your good advise, agnes . 100% certain that Suzy was not involved in the robbery. The mother's purse was "snatched".

 

[Uncle Remus]

I found out one of my neighbors used my phone number as a "contact" number for one of those speedy loans at the "speedy loan place," I about came unglued, but when the collectors started calling, it was nice to tell them yeah, you can find her in the county jail.

The mother should tell the collectors the daughter's phone number and address.

 

[Kimberly]

This happens to my Mom everyday. Literally they call every 5 minutes during the day on the weekdays and weekends.

I've tried speaking to them since she has no patience, and they are looking for someone entirely different. The bad part about getting the robots is that you seemingly can't even explain the situation without being put on hold, which just prompts me to hang up.

I googled the number and found the local office though, which I've confirmed. Maybe pay them a visit?