ABCNews says that the West Virginia Attorney General is warning people about fake debt collectors who will call you repeatedly at home and at work, threatening you with arrest for not paying a debt… that doesn’t even exist.
The scammers operate under names such as U.S. National Bank, Federal Investigation Bureau and United Legal Processing, said West Virginia Assistant Attorney General Norman Googel.
The callers also have invoked the names of actors Denzel Washington and Steve Martin, people who’ve received calls tell ABCNews.com.
Googel said that the scammers have been impossible to track down, but ABCNews.com spoke to one man who claimed to be associated with U.S. National Bank. The man said he works for Financial Crime Division, a company he said provides services for USNB.
The man refused to give his name and gave little information about his company.
Steve Martin? What? When ABC tried to get the fake debt collector to tell them about his company, he responded in a thick accent: “It’s not necessary that each and everyone knows about Financial Crime Division, and probably one of them is you.” Yep. Definitely one of them is us. (To hear a clip of this conversation, click here.)
ABC says the scammers are targeting people who took out payday loans and have access to lots of personal information that may have been stolen from payday lending websites. One consumer who was interviewed for the report said that he was intimidated into sending the scammers $800. They claimed he still owed the money on some loans he took out in 2005. He had paid the loans off last year, but threats of arrest scared him.
“I was scared to death,” he said. “Everything they said literally just stressed me out to the max.”
The scammers like to use scary-sounding terms that are meaningless such as “downloading affidavits,” identify themselves as “Denzel Washington,” and say they are calling from “Steve Martin’s office.”
ABC says consumers with complaints about U.S. National Bank are encouraged to contact the FTC, and their state attorney general’s office.
Fake Debt Collectors Terrify Consumers [ABCNews]
Attorney General McGraw Warns Public of Fake Internet Loan Collectors Impersonating Law Enforcement Officers and Extorting Money From Consumers [West Virginia AG]
More From Consumerist
-
Debt Collectors Keep Calling About Bogus Debt, Even After Being Threatened With Suit
-
5 Examples Why Just About Everyone Hates Debt Collectors
-
Debt Collectors Real & Fake Top List Of Most-Blocked Phone Numbers
-
8 Things We Learned From FTC Report On Debt-Buyers
-
Man Behind Fake-Cop Debt Collection Scam Could Get To Know Some Very Real Convicts
@Quilt: Good for you. Now how about some empathy for other people who may not be as fortunate — the elderly or people with dementia or learning disabilities. Some of these folks don’t have any family or close friends to vet their calls; they could be bullied and confused by these types of scammers and actually fall victim to these despicable tactics.
Obviously the scammers are making money or they wouldn’t keep doing it. Blaming the victim doesn’t do anyone any good.
@Quilt: But the guy in the article didn’t suddenly believe he owed the money, he just thought the debtor had the power to make his life hell.
It isn’t about not being able to keep track of your debts it’s about not knowing what your rights are and about not believing in your own ability to protect those rights.
They tried this in Texas a few years back. My wife got hit, and because she was smart enough not to give any information (they wanted ssn, started playing the fill-in-the-blank game), the local PD said they couldn’t do anything unless they got some cash out of her.
After all, attempted fraud’s not a ‘real’ crime, right?
Stupid. lazy. humans.
@thelushie: You can’t imprison someone for debt, but you can send them to jail if they miss a court hearing about the claim. Hospitals, charmingly enough, have been engaging in this:
[webreprints.djreprints.com]
Shades of the “Yer not gittin’ mah account number” scammer from earlier this year.
The sad thing is that this isn’t all that different from REAL debt collectors…except for the arrest part. I got a call a few years ago about collecting my debt. The info they gave me didn’t quite match up with my credit report and the lady I was talking to escalated the call up to some mean bitch. She completely ignored the fact that my credit report had some errors on it. Instead she was all “You better pay this or else. I suggest you find someone to borrow the money off of by tomorrow.”
Of course, my mom in law is a paralegal and one of the things I learned is that once you mention that you don’t have a job or no way of paying the debt, any further communication like that becomes harassment.
@floraposte: Those hospitals are scum – if there’s a judgment against the debtor, send the sheriff after their property. If no judgment, missing a hearing without an excuse should just mean a default against the debtor.
Of course, if we had a national health care plan like the Canadians do, Dr. Beeper wouldn’t be petitioning judges to arrest patients who haven’t paid their bills…
I had one of these call my work the other day! Didn’t give them any money, but wow. Good timing, consumerist!
@dorianh49: I was thinking that since a debt collector called me, I’m finally somebody!
@Dyscord: As well as “Or Else”. Respond: “or else what?” Using threats to collect a debt is illegal and you can recover damages in civil court.
@Quilt: You are correct that you ‘just don’t get it’. So why are you shooting off your mouth about it? If it’s to convince everybody that everything you do is perfectly rational and you have never made an error in your life, you can save the bandwidth.
If you are stupid enough to think you can go to jail for not paying your bills you deserved to be scammed.
It is not against the law to not pay your bills.
They closed all the debtors prisons decades ago.
@AustinTXProgrammer: If it’s illegal it sure isn’t policed well as incidents like that happen ALL the time.
@420greg: Sorry, not following you here. If you pick on people who don’t know the law, it’s OK to commit fraud and theft? If you don’t know the law you deserve to be victimized by people who do? It’s all right to rip off elderly people who may be fading mentally?
I mean, set aside the comments policy for a sec here. What’s the rationale behind this argument?
This is pretty terrible, and honestly it doesn’t seem that different from “legitimate” collection companies. How many stories have we read on this site alone where people have ended up paying money they didn’t owe just to get some group of companies to leave them alone.
I guess when a business randomly decides you owe it money you’re it’s okay.
Norm Googel…who?
Hmph! The IRS does that, routinely.
The payday lenders are lying to Ohio voters in attempt to overturn one of the nation’s best consumer protection laws in November.
Watch here:
.
The payday lobby is spending millions on TV to deceive voters and convince Ohioans that 391% amounts to financial freedom! 391% is not freedom, it’s a trap! Payday lenders need to acknowledge that their business is predicated on their ability to trap people in debt!
Payday lending is a scourge on our families, our communities and our economy! VOTE YES ON OHIO ISSUE 5!
[www.yesonissue5.org]