Question:
A scam that has been used by collection agencies and now I suspect is
1) they have an unpaid bill and a last name.
2) Find everyone in the geographical area with the same last name.
3) get some other infor if possible, such as car license number.
4) Send a bill to every likely person.
5) If someone pays, you have your money, if more than one person pays,
just keep quite and pocket the money.
I have talked to poliece departments in california and Oregon.
They say this is legal and that they can do nothing.
I suspect that it hits the elderly and poor the hardest. Either because
they can't see so well or don't remember if it really is their bill.
Any comments?
Answer:
Q: A scam that has been used by collection agencies and now I suspect is
1) they have an unpaid bill and a last name.
A: They do not get 'unpaid bills and last names'. They get a copy of an
invoice, delivery receipts if applicable, and frequently a copy of the
credit application originally submitted by the debtor. If an NSF check is
involved, they usually get it also, or at least a photocopy, with the
original remaining in the creditor's possession.
Q: 2) Find everyone in the geographical area with the same last name.
A: If the debtor cannot be located at the address or telephone number in the
files of the creditor (which were passed to the collection agency at the
time the account was placed), then the collection agency may attempt to
skip trace the debtor; that is, locate the debtor by reviewing a variety
of public records with similar first and last names, etc.
Q: 3) get some other infor if possible, such as car license number.
A: Driver's records -- both license plates and driver's licenses -- are
public information. Collection agencies probably would not bother with
obtaining the records on this except in those cases where the debtor had
specificially committed fraud using one of those documents. For example,
it is quite common for deadbeats to go into a grocery chain and cash a
check they know is no good ... and present their driver's license. The
check may have an old address or no address printed on it. If the driver's
license was copied correctly, the collection agency investigator can use
the public record in an effort to locate the passer of the bad check.
Q: 4) Send a bill to every likely person.
A: Of course they would not do this! Have you ever heard of mail fraud? I
can assure you most collection agencies know exactly how to stay within
the law. Sending out bills at random is not a way of doing it. The
collection agency business is a very profitable one ... there is
absolutely no need to break the law or take chances. The money to be made
by legitimatly and legally twisting the arm of a deadbeat is
plentiful. There is no need to play games, resort to fraud or make other
misrepresentations. Legitimate collection agencies -- and most fit in this
category -- won't risk losing their license.
Q: 5) If someone pays, you have your money, if more than one person pays,
just keep quite and pocket the money.
A: The vast majority of people will not pay a bill they do not owe. A good
many people require prompting before they will pay bills they *do* owe.
Furthermore, they cannot 'just keep quiet and pocket the money'. When
payment is received from a debtor on behalf of a client of a collection
agency, it must be placed in the agency's Trust Fund ... the same sort of
Trust Fund an attorney must maintain on behalf of his clients. The Trust
Fund is audited annually (or more often) by the agency of the state
government which regulates collection agencies. In Illinois, that is the
Commissioner of Banking.
Q: I have talked to poliece departments in california and Oregon.
They say this is legal and that they can do nothing.
A: They probably just gave you the brush off to get you out of their
hair. There is nothing legal about sending bogus bills out to people at
random in the hopes some will pay. In addtion to the federal crime of mail
fraud, there are numerous consumer laws involved here.
Q: I suspect that it hits the elderly and poor the hardest. Either because
they can't see so well or don't remember if it really is their bill.
A: What does being poor have to do with having bad eyesight or a bad memory?
And whether one is elderly or not, one can generally remember if a bill is
due simply because (in most instances) a collection agency is a last
resort used by the creditor after the creditor's own internal collection
efforts have failed. If anything, a poor person would be more likely to
resist paying a bill not their own, don't you think? They have less money
to squander and are more likely to examine thier bills closely.
