I got a frantic email from my ex husband, who'd been called about a "legal matter" I supposedly had.
It was a scam and a darn good one. They claimed to be a litigation firm, threatened to sue me for $2,000, if I didn't pay a debt immediately and they prefer if I did it with a prepaid credit card. They had my name, an old address, the last 4 of my SS number and date of birth. They knew I had an account with a certain bank and when I closed it.
If you receive any calls from a debt collector, they are required to identify themselves as debt collectors, can't lie about being attorneys, law enforcement, etc. They must send you written proof that they can collect the debt, via snail mail only, their company name, mailing address and license number. They can't threaten to take any action that they don't intend to take or aren't legally allowed to take.
I used to be a debt collector and they had me wondering if they were a scam or just sucked at their job, because they were actually really slick, until I started quoting FDCPA requirements and basically threatened them into submission. There were two major red flags, but the rest of their act was pretty convincing and the only reason I caught it was because I'm well versed in FDCPA laws.
My mom may have fallen for it, as would many others. So, spread the word and encourage people to be careful.
Some really good tips for identifying a collection scam are here: http://blog.credit.com/2014/09/how-t...llector-95177/
And your rights when dealing with a debt collector: http://www.credit.com/debt/top-10-de...ection-rights/



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