FTC Brings First Case Alleging Text Messages Were Used In Illegal Debt Collection Scheme

Ignorant of Telecommunications law, huh?

That's great, unless they keep calling you and it's NOT YOUR DEBT. I have one calling me now that every time I call back and ask why they're calling, they say there's no account associated with my number. Don't assume people are getting calls from debt collectors because they haven't paid their bills. I pay all mine and STILL get calls for who knows what reason. I'm certainly not going to pay OTHER people's debts to make them stop calling.

Would someone please elaborate on "California-based debt collector will pay $1 million dollars to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the defendants violated federal law" >
1.  Numerous companies have been sued and yet are able to reopen business under a new name.
2.  Has FTC ever collected financial lawsuit against the companies prosecuted for illegal business activities?
3.  If so; where does the money go to?

So what percentage of the FTC penalty was this relative to the amount of money the offenders collected ?  That is the problem.  If the penalty is only a few percent of their gross collections, then how would this be a penalty ?  Yet the feds never penalize large percentages to force them all out.

AT&T Harassing customers with due date reminders even on auto pay?
Tmobile and Verizon does the same thing incidentally.

I banned the phone company from being able to text to my phone any message
pertaining to billing or marketing sales offers.

I very rarely get any spam from them though they desperately try.   Security reports
tell me that I would be getting around 7 or 8 text messages a month from them and
every time I call them with a simple question like "what is wrong with the local towers?",
they always try to follow up with "how was the customer service" automated survey calls
so I banned that system as well from my phone ---   nice and quiet.

But anyway I get your point.    It is a sad time we live in when we have to ban the phone company
just from wasting my time and storage space with useless ads, pointless reminders, and marketing
calls but thankfully those are very simple to control.

They should go after Ryan Lenahan.

He used us to buy phone numbers so he could spam users via SMS using voip lines. Now I hear he is autodialing numbers for his robocaller software using someone elses voip lines. We won't do business with clients like Ryan once we know this kind of activity is occurring.

http://performinsider.com/2013/03/ryan-eagles ... d-bad-business/

This used to be his facebook https://www.facebook.com/ryan.lenahan.75

Muslim country? They cut hands off thieves there...

Verizon attack on 2565583352.   5583352

do you expect the phone company is going to stop the cash cow and the government will not stop them they make to much money on the fines the fine should be split between the people who get the calls not the government when the government then they sue over a product the people injured get nothing but the government millions

They would just get a new business license with a slight name change and avoid it.  The cons have all these tricks figured out and rarely get caught.  My local newspaper have been breaking the law for 23 years since I bought my house.  they have Contractors violate the law and rotate the business names to throw trash spam in my yard.  I have a disability and have to go pick the spam out of my yard with special devices I have to use.  Every time I have called the police to get the code enforced, They have been warned but change companies doing the the illegal advertising every time to another with similar names.   All are problaby the same company that is getting multiple business licenses for the same company to avoid the law.  Just like these criminals will do as well.
They have all the tricks to avoid the law and consider this as an operating expense, instead of a fine.  Its the same as companies that buy and sell divisions to avoid the law.  It is to protect the companies from the law.  That is what the company did to me when I was injured by a hazard the had not warned employees about.  I lost all my savings trying to fight to get my medical bills paid and some assistance to keep my job of sixteen years.  The company sells acquisitions typically in under ten years and tried to hide my medical cost to the next buyer.   Now I am going to lose my house, My credit is ruined, And no one will hire me.   All this so they avoid the laws!
So Ten years at the top of my job,  A former NAZI company buys my division,  They hid a hazard to save money,  I have a spinal injure along with >5 other victims, but mine was the worst,  They fire all the victims for created issues or false accusations, I lose everything I've worked for over 25 years,  and have no hope now.  But they did make more money for their investors, Cut and run when they go too far leaving honest people ruined.
These credit companies prey on them then with they have no way to defend themselves. I can't afford a lawyer and they call me so much, if I do get temp work they get me in trouble with harassing phone calls at all hours by robot systems.   I've missed calls for temp jobs because the calling numbers looked like credit bottom feeders robo calls and I couldin't use my phone on calls unidentified.  These people are parasites and don't care about laws.  BTW, the "Debt" was because AT&T continued to bill me after I canceled the service and they had already cut the cable.  They also double charged a one time web payment and did not refund me! Then gave my private data to a network of these collectors,

Oh yeah,one million dollar fine. That'll teach 'em. Nice work FTC..,NOT!!!

Don't know why this comes up with my email in googke search as i have been locked out of my email, again n but always hacked.

858-568-7619 Called But didn't leave a message.

Have you ever thought,   the man next door might be the one calling you, as now days all you have to do, is get a number and slide it into your cell phone from any where in the world, he could have a Stockton, California phone number and be in Corona California, or Africa, but still the number could be in your state.  Have you ever look up the numbers in your social security , each one of those numbers represent something,   address are easy to come by if the party works in the postal office business, rent a furniture business, bank, it not just the telephone company fault,  it is a good idea not to put a return address on one of your bills , as that will lead to some joker calling you from that company as a collector, and really not be from there at all,    1800 /1877 numbers have a pass through number your not aware of , those numbers can go through a switch board.  and be someone in your same city,  some number  of 1800 /1877 have a pass though codes like 23, 223, 24 224 and so on that dial or how you say transfer right into the scammers home, and of course you neve will know .

Believe this group is still active but under a handful new names and variations on those names. One of the most recent is Williams and Rivera Litigation/WRL/W&R Litigation behaving exactly as described in the article.

However, instead of threatening to sue, they identify themselves in text & phone calls to both the alleged debtor & family members as 'The Clerk's Office' and claim that they have a 'Case Pending' in their office. Once contacted they tell you that unless paid immediately it will be 'sent to court' within the next 24-48 hours and that 'law enforcement' will 'serve you'. They give the runaround about who the 'collector' in the scenario is (them), provide numbers to other older collections which you can eventually chase back to a number which dials an 'operator' in an office building where their office is located. In our situation, the debt wasn't a valid one and even if it had been valid, it was more than 7 years old and 1/10th of what they were claiming we now owed. They illegally informed family members of the false debt and gave them the impression that arrest was imminent. Give them no information, tell them where they can shove it & file a report with the FTC.