Debt Collection Scams - A Warning

bympgoode

284 followers

10 years ago

This blog has nothing to do with Wealthy Affiliate, but

Many of you may already be aware of these types of scams, but I want to share this anyway.....

Unfortunately, over the years, I accumulated some debt (that I am not proud of) and have been paying off gradually, however, I had received a few calls from so-called debt collection companies that somehow acquired certain bits of personal information (i.e. the last 4 digits of my social security number, a former employer, telephone number...).

I knew this call was bogus because it was supposedly a debt from a cash advance company, which I never had. The person that called, first of all, was very unprofessional, wanted me to confirm the information he had about me AND asked, not asked, DEMANDED my checking account information to clear this debt! He also stated that if I didn't comply, I would be arrested momentarily! I did not confirm or deny anything. Instead, I turned the tables on this caller and when I was finished the caller sounded like the idiot that is was.

DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED. SOME OF THESE CALLERS WILL THREATEN YOU WITH PRISON TIME (MINE DID). A PROFESSIONAL DEBT COLLECTOR WILL BE WILLING TO NEGOTIATE, NOT HARRASS YOU NEEDLESSLY.

These are the questions you should ask:

1. The full name of the company and the website. (If this is not provided, that's clue #1 that this company is not on the level).

2. The name of the caller, or ID# of the caller.

3. DO NOT give any personal information, especially any banking, credit card, or social security number.

4. Demand the bill, invoice, or statement in writing! This should NOT be a problem for a genuine debt collector.

5. Definitely go online to see if this company is in fact. (Whenever I tried to find the company's website - they called a few times - I was always taken to a page that said, "Website Under Construction" {obviously these people were not members of Wealthy Affiliate - the site could have been knocked out in a hour - yes, I am being sarcastic!)

Like I said before, many of you may have already experienced something like this, but I just wanted to give you the heads up that this is just another tactic to steal your identity.

So, please be careful, when it comes to your identity, it's ok to be paranoid!