Incorrect Debt Collection Number

cbzdel · Jul 30, 2013

For the past 3 weeks I have been getting debt collection robo calls for someone I do not know. This is on my private cell phone number, which I have had for almost 6 years now. They call 3 to 4 times a day, the message is always the same, but the number is not, they call from all over place, almost every day it is a new phone number. The message states the name and a case number saying this person owes money to a bank and this is the last chance before legal action is taken. And it ends with press 1 to be connected to a live operator. I have pressed one on multiple occasions and told them they have the wrong number and they say they will note it in their file but to do so they will need my full SSN and birthday, and when I tell them no they say there is nothing that can be done to help me and they hang up.

I keep adding their phone numbers to my blocked numbers list but my phone blocks it and still allows it to go to voice mail, so I need to clear out their robo messages nightly. I have searched the numbers they are calling from and they are all legitimate collection numbers, one person stated they have been getting multiple calls form them daily for over 3 years. So it does not appear to be a scam, its just someone lied put down my number for a contact, it was a typo, or it was from before I got my phone number.

I did check my credit report just to be safe, and everything looks normal, so my credit/identity has not be stolen.

What can I do?? This is so annoying!!

Blaylocke · Jul 30, 2013

cbzdel said:
For the past 3 weeks I have been getting debt collection robo calls for someone I do not know. This is on my private cell phone number, which I have had for almost 6 years now. They call 3 to 4 times a day, the message is always the same, but the number is not, they call from all over place, almost every day it is a new phone number. The message states the name and a case number saying this person owes money to a bank and this is the last chance before legal action is taken. And it ends with press 1 to be connected to a live operator. I have pressed one on multiple occasions and told them they have the wrong number and they say they will note it in their file but to do so they will need my full SSN and birthday, and when I tell them no they say there is nothing that can be done to help me and they hang up.

I keep adding their phone numbers to my blocked numbers list but my phone blocks it and still allows it to go to voice mail, so I need to clear out their robo messages nightly. I have searched the numbers they are calling from and they are all legitimate collection numbers, one person stated they have been getting multiple calls form them daily for over 3 years. So it does not appear to be a scam, its just someone lied put down my number for a contact, it was a typo, or it was from before I got my phone number.

I did check my credit report just to be safe, and everything looks normal, so my credit/identity has not be stolen.

What can I do?? This is so annoying!!

That's bogus. Is it a bunch of different collection agencies? If it's one, send them a certified letter, explaining you are not the person they are looking for, and that you have told them you do not want these harassing phonecalls to continue. Explain you will absolutely not give over your social security number for the benefit of having these wrong calls stop. A lot of times a strong worded letter telling them they have it wrong, and to get effed, could do it. Then you have a piece of paper proving they were notified that they were mistaken.

Get an itemized bill showing these phonecalls.

The Fair Debt Collections Act states:

804(3) states that debt collectors may not:

"communicate with any such person more than once
unless requested to do so by such person or unless
the debt collector reasonably believes that the earlier
response of such person is erroneous or incomplete and
that such person now has correct or complete location
information"

806(5) prohibits debt collectors from:

"Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person
in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously
with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the
called number."

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act -

This is the bare minimum you should do. Once you have a certified letter telling them they have the wrong person and to get effed, ignoring it will violate the fair debt collection law. Then you can get them in some real trouble.

elsie · Jul 30, 2013

Ask them:

For their name
For the name of the company they work for (the one that signs their paychecks) and both it's mailing address and business address
The name of the company they are acting as an agent for

Tell them that they were given a bogus number and you require that they cease and desist calling that number
Inform them that you will be passing the above information (after they have provided it) to the state attorneys general office, their state's attorneys general office and the federal agency that handles that (FTC?) with a statement that you have told them to cease and desist as well as a complaint that they asked for personal information that could be used in identity fraud. Follow it up with a letter to their business address with the same requirement and statement.

Either it will make them mad and they will fly off the handle, or they'll stop calling.

elsie

The B · Jul 30, 2013

on my belated honeymoon, many years ago, I got a voicemail from a glorified debt-collector lawyer demanding that "Janine" had better call him back that very day, or he was going to proceed with filing first thing in the morning. This, too, was a phone number I'd had for years, and I had no idea who Janine was. So I called the guy back and informed him that he had the wrong number, and that if he wanted to be able to establish he'd done his diligence, he'd need to figure out his error and get a hold of the real Janine. He listened to me, then he said "uh huh. Well you tell Janine that we ARE going to proceed with this thing first thing in the morning. That was her last chance." SLAM in my ear.

bubblegum 'em, then. I did my part.