Phantom debt collectors harass Americans, demand money they don't owe

[ck4829]

Hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped Americans have been targeted by abusive debt collectors operating out of overseas call centers suspected of links to organized crime in India, law enforcement officials told ABC News.

The calls are part of a massive scam, one that appears to target struggling Americans -- especially those who have gone online to apply for payday loans. Armed with personal information from those pilfered applications, the threatening callers, who claim to be debt collectors poised to initiate legal action, have managed to pry loose millions of dollars from their victims -- even when the victims never owed money in the first place.

"This is what we call a phantom debt collection scam," said Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. "It's a very pernicious and innovative new fraud."

Working through call centers in India, the commission estimates that the criminals have dialed at least 2.5 million calls, persuading already cash-strapped victims to send them more than $5 million. Some have reported receiving dozens of calls per hour. They are victims like Cindy Gervais, of New Orleans, who went online for a quick loan when her husband's car was hit by a driver who didn't have insurance.

http://gma.yahoo.com/phantom-debt-collectors-india-harass-americans-demand-money-221109715--abc-news-topstories.html

[iemitsu]

1. this sucks.

scams like this wouldn't work on americans if our own industries hadn't outsourced their call-centers to india, thus legitimizing the source of the call.

[Speck Tater]

2. I don't owe anything to anybody, yet I still get one "debt collectoin" call periodically.

I paid off the last of my debts over 14 years ago, yet there is one "debt collection" company that calls me every other month or so trying to "collect" a debt of some $2,000 I supposedly owed to some company I never heard of.

Then I discovered that my cell phone had an ignore list, so I added their number to that list and I don't get calls from them any more.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

3. There's a Chicago suburb where debt collectors apparently have a contact-list for the elderly.

Some of the elderly will write a check even when they know that no debt is due just to get debt collectors to stop harassing and threatening them.

Some, apparently, are embarassed by their occasional forgetfullness and don't want others to know that they are not certain whether any debts are due or not. For some, it's just a matter of money and they will write a check.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

4. Please remember that in a lot of states, debt older than 5 years is uncollectable...

But if you don't argue that, you can still have your wages garnished.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. By law, debt collectors are supposed to send you a letter, if you ask for it

detailing what the source of the debt is, how much is owed, etc.
That is Federal law.
so if you do think you might owe a debt and someone calls,
tell them to mail you legal evidence of the debt and then they are supposed to stop calling.

Not that this will matter to phony debt callers.

There are SO many robo calls now days I always let the answering machine answer first.