Collection agency violation sends one Lincoln City, Ore man collecting
Willamette Week online is running an article about a debt collection agency that went after the wrong guy for $102.
The 51-year-old father of five got his first phone message from DRS at the beginning of 2005. The 22-second message said in part: “Hi, this is Nancy Miller. I’ve tried to reach you for a while, but I keep on missing you. Do me a favor. Give me a call at 1-800-807-4106.”
They pick Debt Recovery Solutions LLC as their “Rogue of the Week” - check out the article here on Wweek.com.
The long and short of it is that the victim in question didn’t owe the debt and because it is in violation of the FDCPA for a collector to collect on debt they can’t validate, they are getting sued. And the victim will end up winning if he’s got the proof to back up his claims. They left approximately 200 messages left on his answering machine. Each each communication/attempt of collection is a violation, which could carry up to a maximum of $1000 per incident. Sure seems like a lot of money to get Sprint their $102 that he didn’t owe. I’ll keep an eye on this one and see what transpires.
Be sure to validate your debt before paying someone - just how many people in the world have your name?
on March 15th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
This company poses as a debt collector but is actually a front for an identity theft ring. The automated system calls at random endlessly until the victim tries to stop it by calling them. At this point the victim is pumped for identifying information to prove that they are not the imaginary debtor.
Gotcha. Now they sell your identity on the black market. Pretty good scam. A certain percentage of people will fall for this ruse.
Law enforcement is impotent and can’t do anything so it is up you us to protect ourselves. Don’t fall for it.