888-281-3921

Scumbag debt collector that has the wrong person but they contune to call

Its actually a scam number

Everyone is the wrong person. This is a scam period. They wanted me to call back and enter my phone number though they had my number. Google Voice scam or something. I hung up on them and blocked their number. Plus the guy (foreign accent) said a debt was received from an attorneys office and they've been trying to track me down. I've lived in the same house for 30 years and I feel if I owed a huge amount to a creditor they would already have my address, etc. The guy asked me to call back and speak with an attorney and then said he would go downstairs to monitor the call?? He had already said his office was referred to him by said attorney and then suddenly he's in the same office. Makes no sense at all. Fishy, fishy, fishy... Watch out people. If you get a bad gut feeling from a call like this, listen to it. You're probably right.

These criminals call and use a slightly incorrect name then make a threat of "action" against you. The number they want you to call is 888-281-3921. They do not identify who they are or who the original creditor is. Clear violations of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act . Report the number to the FTC. Any company name they may give is fake. An underground company hired to harass debtors

Since the FTC does not take debt collection complaints why are you purposely trying to mislead people into reporting them there?  You would have to lie about the call type to get them to take the complaint.  Do you really think that is a good idea and will help anything?

One of the tricks they use is to call your family, friends, neighbors and/or places of employment (past or present or both) to create panic and embarrassment so that their intended victim calls them so that they can scare that person into paying extortion money.  They will usually also state information that would be illegal for a real debt collector to state to department and tell them that you are a deadbeat who does not pay their bills. They often call people that have never even been a third party such as that you are being sued, that you owe money to someone, etc. They threaten that if you do not call them back, they will contact your HR associated with you because they get erroneous information off the internet.

The fake process server/location finder extortion SCAM usually consists of the following:

They mention that they have received a Fax document or some sort of complaint and that there is a pending legal matter or action about to filed against you to create the sense of urgency. They tell you that they are a “process server” and cannot give you the particulars of the case since the file is sealed. This is simply ruse to get you to call another number (often with a made-up case number) where they will ask for money to “make it go away” (this is actually the same place, they work in teams, one pretending to be the server, and the other usually pretends to be a lawyer). They threaten to serve you at home or at work. They tell you that if they serve you at work then they will need a supervisor, security, or HR person there as a witness, hoping that will cause you to panic over the alleged embarrassment of being served at work. They also tell you that you will need two forms of ID. None of which is true. Process servers do not ever call ahead so that you can dodge them. Process servers get paid to serve papers, nothing else. They certainly are not going to pass up a paycheck by telling you that you can avoid being served, they are not going to give you an extra day or even a few hours to get a “stop order”. Court documents are time sensitive and must be served within a certain amount of time. Remember that you can always call the local courthouse to see if there really is a lawsuit that has been filed against you.

It is incumbent upon them under the law to prove that the debt exists and that you owe it, and (this is the important part) that they have the legal right to collect it. You are not obligated under the law to prove that you don’t owe or that it is paid.

Federal law (FDCPA) requires them to send you a letter, email, or text (postmarked in the case of a letter) within 5 days of their first contact that contains their name, physical address, the creditor’s name, and the amount of the alleged debt. Unless they have communicated it to you verbally at the beginning of your conversation. It also must contain the “mini-Miranda” telling you that it is an attempt to collect a debt and that all information will be used for those purposes. The one other important thing that this communication must also have in it is that you have a right to dispute the debt within 30 days of receipt of the letter and if you do so, all collection activity must be stopped until the debt is verified. If and when you get that communication you should immediately send that debt validation letter by certified, return receipt mail.

First, you should make a complaint at this Federal Agency, and while there you should also read up on how debt collection is supposed to work as well as what your rights in this matter are: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/

Also file a complaint with your State Attorney General's office.
List of State AG’s offices: https://800notes.com/faq/attorney-general

My mistake. The agency is called The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
CFPB Submit a complaint about a financial product or service ...
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

Yes, I already posted that along with the link.

Anyways, I could hear in the guys voice tonalities he was low IQ and most likely not aware of the jail time all employed there are now facing.

Sorry. Yes you did. I rapidly skimmed through your long winded reply, missed it . My mistake

A message was left in my voice mail from a private number saying there was a legal action pending against me and to call the 888-281# they said this is the Bechmann law firm and said I owed 1400 to Shaws Jewelers. I told him that you have the wrong person I haven't shop at Shaws in 12 yrs. Caller stated speaking aggressively and told him you will need to provide paperwork, he told that is not his job, his job to to inform me of the debt and collect payments and I told him no proof of debt no payment. Then he began to raise he voice aggressively and I hung up. I called back to get firm's address to write a complaint but there was no answer & no answering machine to leave a message.

} the FTC does not take debt collection complaints

The Commission should stop inviting those complaints, then.

Fake and Abusive Debt Collectors - FTC article, Jun 2023
    EXCERPT: "Have you spotted a fake or abusive debt collector? Report it to
    * your state attorney general’s office
    * the Federal Trade Commission
    * the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau"

Debt Collection FAQs: How To Report a Debt Collector - FTC article, Mar 2023
    EXCERPT: "Where do I report a debt collector for doing something illegal?
    Report any problems you have with a debt collector to ...." (same three bulleted options, including FTC)

Managing Debt
    EXCERPTS: "Debt collectors must follow rules when they call you. If they do not follow the rules, you can complain about them to the Federal Trade Commission.
    .... You can ask a debt collector to stop calling you. Legally, they must stop. If they do not, you can report them to the Federal Trade Commission.
    .... If a debt collector breaks the law, file a complaint. ... Report bad debt collectors to the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-382-4357."

See also two more invitations on the same page to "file a complaint" under the subheading "What do I do about calls from debt collectors?" when DCAs are out of compliance. Here's what I got from the FTC complaint assistant portal on their "ReportFraud" domain, ninth radio button:

    "Is your report about any of these common problems?
    .... Credit, debt, loan (ex. debt collection, credit report, student loan debt relief)"

I went to the FTC site to file complaints and it specifically said that you have to file them with the CFPB.  https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/assistant

I hit the box for "credit, debt, loan".  Then 3 boxes opened up.  The second box on the left hand side says: "Debt Collection, credit card, credit reporting, banking" and then there is a white box with the CFPB in it.  If you check that box a pop up comes on telling you that they are redirecting you to the CFPB website which says:

Quote:

We are redirecting you to submit your report to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at www.consumerfinance.gov. CFPB handles complaints about debt collection, credit cards, credit reporting, and banking.

 So what else am I supposed to think?

Well, that only means the CFPB will be handling the complaint, but doesn't mean you can't use the FTC portal to begin the reporting process, since they will redirect you. They might not be willing to ignore complainants about debt collections, so they are continuing to be part of the process because there are so many places and links telling people to report to them.
It is much easier to continue including it in their portal, but inform people they no longer handle those, than it is to hunt down all those 'invitations' still lurking on many websites.

They also have this in their FAQ (search term: debt collection):

Quote:

Why was I sent to the CFPB to file my report?
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) handles issues related to debt collection, credit card companies, credit reporting, and banking and might be able to help you resolve your issue. If your report falls into one of these categories, we'll send you to the CFPB's website. But don't worry — your report will still end up in the FTC's database, which makes reports available to federal, state, and local law enforcement across the country.

So in conclusion, anyone telling others to report to the FTC is not misleading, just uninformed.

That certainly wasn't very obvious to me using that page and I needed to go to the bottom of the page to find the FAQ and then look for the question you posted about.  I have to wonder how many people would do that since probably not a single person did that when they signed up for the DNC list.  Since I didn't actually have a complaint I really couldn't go very far.  I do believe that most people would get the same impression that I got which was that they don't actually take complaints anymore plus in reality they don't directly take complaints but piggyback off the one you give the CFPB.  In other words, I can't directly make a complaint to the FTC about a DC.

I know what you mean, but I think you are overlooking the fact you can go to the FTC website to file a complaint, it just won't be with the FTC, but you will get redirected and still get to file a report.

Most people who go to file a debt collection report probably won't care if the FTC is the one who takes the report or they send you to the CFPB and the CFPB takes the report. For people like us who tell others where they can file a report, sure it is useful to be informed of the changes and send them to the place their report will be accepted.

I'm supposed to start saying now that you can go to the FTC website where they will redirect you to the CFPB website which will then take the debt collection report and then give the information back to the FTC?  That sounds awfully complicated and confusing as opposed to simply telling people to go to the CFPB directly to make the report.

Why would you send them to the FTC knowing it will only go to the CFPB? Just send them to the CFPB silly!
My point was when people post and tell others to go to the FTC, it doesn't mean they are wrong. We just discussed they will still make it to where they can file a report.
You said this to "Ron":

BigA wrote:

Since the FTC does not take debt collection complaints why are you purposely trying to mislead people into reporting them there?

I am just saying they are probably not informed and shouldn't be reprimanded as trying to mislead people. I would have still told people to go to the FTC, but now I know it goes to the CFPB. I have to add that to my warning PSA.

Just my guess, they're copying certain complaints submitted online to keep them consolidated. Probably keeping the Sentinel Network and the CFPB's bucket topped off about the same like server mirrors to ease retrieval. The CFPB's idea years ago was to make its complaint database publicly open and searchable, and also packaged for download, features which targeted industries have fumed over.

I see no such FTC gatekeeping for olde tyme postal mail and phone calls. Hard to imagine them refusing DCA complaints by all methods as a policy decision, though short staffing could certainly slow the response time or prompt a shunting to CFPB.

Declaring that the FTC won't accept DCA complaints is false on its face. Qualifying the same statement to discuss the wiggly portal would be more fair, but probably not worth the bother.

I still say the FTC could be more transparent when repeatedly creating an impression that the FTC will field a given gripe category. But I also agree with Mike that people on a complaint mission are more worried about completing it than which alphabet soup group facilitates. All the real successful complaint portals tend to funnel people by their goals rather than place the burden on them to navigate categories and resources.