Debt Collectors Real & Fake Top List Of Most-Blocked Phone Numbers

According to a new list of most-blocked telephone numbers, the only people more tenacious than debt collectors about making non-stop calls to consumers are bogus debt collectors possibly looking to steal your information or trick you into making a payment.

The folks at visual voicemail provider YouMail looked at the phone numbers that had users hitting the “ditch” button, which not only funnels the caller to voicemail but also plays the SIT tones/”this number is out of service” greeting intended to get a caller off the user’s back.

So without further ado, here are the 10 most-ditched numbers from YouMail users, along with crowd-sourced identification of the callers.

336 856 2901 – NCC Debt Recovery
800 684 8429 – HSBC
972 378 3660 – Capital One Auto Finance
804 217 7156 – Capital One Collection
800 503 2463 – Fingerhut Credit
800 555 0433 – Fake Chase Scam
888 222 4227 – Drive Financial Collections
866 929 5307 – Fake Capital One Scam
866 929 5306 – Fake Capital One Scam
866 847 4958 – Fingerhut Collections

“This list came out of us looking for insights into how our ditch feature in our apps was being used,” Alex Quilici, YouMail CEO, tells Consumerist. “That led us to pull the most ditched numbers to see what was motivating users.”

It’s not just that these callers are dialing so many people, explains Quilici. There are plenty of big companies that auto-dial callers every week and don’t get blocked.

“But when you’re seeing numbers get ditched a material amount, it means that the people they call are really unhappy,” he says.

While YouMail says it can’t directly file complaints to agencies like the FTC on behalf of individual consumers, Quilici says the company is working on a way to help users report robocall spam.

Remember, that legitimate debt collectors are obligated to cease calls if you tell them to. At that point, they are only allowed to contact you to let you know of actual legal action.

Robocall spam is slightly trickier, as these callers are already likely breaking the law just by calling you in the first place.

In those cases, you should do the following:
1. Hang up.
2. Do NOT press any buttons — even if it’s to try to remove yourself from the company’s list — as doing so may just lead the robocaller to call you more.
3. File a complaint with the FTC, which has recently renewed its intention to crack down on illegal robocalls. You can do that online at FTC.gov or by calling 1 877 FTC HELP.

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