Illinois consumers have been getting hit by pay day loan debt collection scams. Con artists posing as debt collectors have somehow obtained the phone numbers and personal data of current and former pay day loan borrowers. Lawsuits and jail time are the typical threats con artists for paydayloans collectors use. They call on the phone to get a hold of the consumers. There is enough of a pay day loan collection scam in Illinois that a consumer alert was even given by the Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Intimidation and threats used by debt collection scammers
Bogus pay day loans debt collectors are the main complaint coming to the Illinois attorney general’s office just lately. As outlined by Consumer Affairs, most individuals who have received fraudulent paydayloans calls have previously used an online payday lender and had already paid their debt. The details known by the caller involves social security numbers, employer, account with your bank numbers and names. Because the con artists have such sensitive personal details, their victims often believe the debt collectors are legit. The scam artists use threats and intimidation, like lawsuits and jail, to dupe them into authorizing a direct withdrawal from their checking account. The bogus collectors often like to get promissory notes signed by these consumers.
This stops money lenders from getting business
More individuals are getting hurt by debt collection scammers. Illinois payday loan customers aren’t the only ones. Wallet Pop reports the payday loans no fax scam calls have surfaced in Ohio, Colorado, Florida, Indiana and other states around the nation. Madigan said the scammers say they’re from a variety of bogus companies, like Morgan and Associates, Federal Bureau of Investigators, DNR Recovery, DNI Recovery, Legal Accounts Association, Department of Law and Enforcement, CashNet USA, America Legal Services, Cash till payday and ACS. These names tend to be fake. There is a real one coming from CashNet USA. It is one of the only real ones. There has been a warning posted from CashNet USA. This could be found on its website.
Illegal debt collection harassment being done
Under the FTC’s Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, it is illegal for debt collectors to call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.. Other things they can’t do contain asking for more money than is owed, tell a third party about consumer’s debt or even use threats. Even so, some victims of the Illinois payday loan scam calls told Madigan’s office that they were fooled into paying various hundred dollars. WIFR, which is an Illinois TV station, showed advice for if consumers are contacted by scammers that come from Madigan.
People don’t go to jail for failing to pay a debt in this country.
Never give out any personal information over the telephone, especially bank account numbers or credit card numbers.
When in doubt, ask the debt collector to produce documentation that qualifies the debt they seek to collect.
Contact the original creditor to confirm if the debt has been paid. If not, confirm that the debt was sold to a third party collector before making a payment.
Further reading
Consumer Affairs
consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/08/il_payday_lending.html
Wallet Pop
walletpop.com/blog/2010/08/26/warning-issued-over-bogus-payday-loan-debt-collector-calls/
WIFR
wifr.com/news/headlines/101497999.html?ref=999
No comments:
Post a Comment