You received a call at 9 in the evening. It sounded official. Caller said he’s working with the power of an attorney and is affiliated with a credit bureau. He went on to saying that you are committing a crime by not paying the debt and threatened you with lawsuits and arrests.

Now he starts to harass you and calls even at work, giving complete information about you and your family!

Yes, it’s just a bluff. These scammers don’t have any power over you. You are just one of the many targets, just like our fellow tellows users below who also experienced the same thing.

But before we give you our top 3, here are some tips on how you can protect yourself against debt collection scams:

• Ask the debt collector to provide official “validation notice” of the debt, i.e., in writing. The notice must include the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor and a statement of your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
• Ask for the caller’s name, company, street address, and telephone number. Then, do some research to know if the collection agency is real.
• Do not provide or confirm any bank account, credit card or other personal information over the phone until you have verified the call.
• Check your credit report by going to www.annualcreditreport.com or calling (877) 322-8228 to know if you have outstanding debts or if there has been suspicious activity under your name.
• If the scammer has a great deal of personal information about you, be safe and place a fraud alert on your credit report.
• File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission if the caller uses threats. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits debt collections from being abusive, unfair or deceptive.

And now for our weekly top 3 most annoying numbers:

1. 9164698829 was reported as Debt Collection scammer:

Let’s hear it from Evelyn:

They threaten me if I don’t make a payment 1200 within 10 min .They will send sheriff out and arres me right away .I was so scared don’t know what to do.Because I had no money at all .I just let it it be .Now I realized this is America not like bunt of bull shit Indian accent try to lured people into their trap and scam .I wish F.b.I or police will to something about this.p.s they also call me with the sheriff tel ID # showing

and Tadd:

Told me that if I don’t paid they will send sheriff out and arrested me for 7 years prison. I almost got trap,and very scare panic . Don’t know what to do . Luckily my lawyer said just hang up their phone and call police .They said. It totally scam.I felt much better.I hope someone out there will do something about this scam . Otherwise more victims will fall into their trap

2. The next number, 8772370512, is another fake debt collector:

Joyce reported it as Midland Credit Management:

Phone rang. Picked up. No answer. Called number back. Phone rang for quite some time. Hung up and retried. Waited several minutes until someone finally picked up. Asked for someone who used our number. Said our number would be removed. We will see.

Asked where they were calling from. First response was “Midland Credit Management.” Repeated, “Where are you calling from?” Response, “From one of our offices in India.” “India?” I asked. Response, “Yes.”

and JJB on the same number:

They called me several times even on sunday. They told me I had to pay my debts but I don’t have any…

2. Our next number, 8008889618, has been sending messages asking people to go to www.myatt920.com to claim their $920 ATT credit.

here’s the full account of watchdog:

800 888 9618 called my cell phone telling me to go to ATT990.com to claim my 990 to be credited to my ATT account – this is total bullshit – SCAM !!! I called ATT to report this scam number – so that they can hopefully send out an alert to ATT users about this obvious scam

Think about it – if ATT was going to credit your account they would just automatically do it on the bill you wouldn’t need to go to a website to claim it – people are so stupid

and Muhammed:

Audio message saying I receive $920 credit to my ATT account and to go to www.myatt920.com to retrieve it. An obvious scam like Islam.

So the next time you get these kinds of calls, you know what to do!

til then,
your tellows team