[HPFGU-OTChatter] Telemarketers and phone scams (long)

[Bumbledor]

Beth,, the best way to deal with those schmucks is to Mine information from THEM.
Find out what the account number is, how much is owed, when the debt was created, what is his name,
what is his phone number, so you can call him back, etc..  And yes, keep them talking.
remember, the more rude they get, the more likly its a skam.

No law requires you to deal with 3rd party collections agencies - UNLESS its part of your contract. I.E. the credit card contract you sign, when you get your mastercard or visa..

And thats what you need to do, find out if there is a contract, and if so, who are the parties.. I.E. you and Mastercard, or you and mastercard/3rd party collections.

Most of the time, the collections will say they have a contract with Mastercard - but will not say they have one with you. Absent a contract with YOU and the collections agency, then the collections agency can do NOTHING legaly..

Its those phone calls and letters, which are their sneaky way of getting you to contract with them - abet a bit of fraud and non-disclosure on their part and ignorance on your part is required for them to get a "default" contract. But a contract it is, and then they have you. You not only pay the collections agency, but the original debtor as well.



----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Beth 
  To: HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2003 2:44 AM
  Subject: [HPFGU-OTChatter] Telemarketers and phone scams (long)


  I really did try and write something at the time this thread was 
  current, but it got "lost" and I moved on -- until my phone call 
  today.

  A man called today asking for my husband at about 11:15 a.m. My 
  husband is an editor at the local paper and since the man sounded a 
  little brusque, I figured he wanted to complain about something. He 
  gave his name as John Higgins and listed some 800 number I was to 
  tell my husband to call, asking when he would be home. 

  "I have no idea. Sometimes he comes home for lunch," I answered, 
  slow to realize that I shouldn't have. "May I tell him what this is 
  regarding?" 

  "Yes. To whom am I speaking?" He actually sounded a tiny bit 
  friendlier.

  "This is his wife."

  "Well, then I can talk to you. You have an outstanding balance on 
  your [company x] card and there's been no payment on it for over a 
  year. We are about to turn it over for refusal to pay. What are you 
  going to do about it?"

  "That is /so/ interesting, because we haven't had a [company x] card 
  for years and I just read an article about calls like these."

  Really surly now, "So you are refusing to pay?"

  "No, what I'm going to do is investigate this."

  And on it went, as he got angrier and more threatening, interrupting 
  me, asking me when my husband's birthday is (I didn't tell him), and 
  finally telling me to hang up. I said that I wouldn't because I 
  loved that this was costing him money. He said that it wasn't 
  costing him anything, threatened more and then said to hang up 
  again. I just covered the mouthpiece and listened until I got a busy 
  tone.

  It wasn't until after I hung up that I realized that I hadn't read 
  an article, but a friend from my book club had related a similar 
  experience in which the man claimed she had an outstanding phone 
  bill. Unfortunately, she did correct him on her middle initial and 
  supplied him with her birthdate before she started resisting. But I 
  was glad to have had the knowledge of her experience when I was 
  faced with this guy.

  I'm guessing that, since I am probably one of three people left in 
  the U.S. without a cell phone, all of you are much more savvy to 
  these things than I am, but just in case, I wanted to pass on this 
  warning reminding everyone to /not/ give out personal information 
  over the phone. Remind older people, too, as I can easily see my 
  grandmother being totally cowed by this jerk.

  I called the police department, since I couldn't reach the credit 
  bureau, because I felt like I should be reporting it to someone. The 
  kind, bored duty officer explained that there wasn't anything they 
  could do anyway, since these numbers were often fake.

  As far as true telemarketers are concerned, I've always tried to be 
  polite, but my brother tries to get them talking as long as 
  possible, especially about their personal lives, and a friend said a 
  sympathetic telemarketer once confessed to her that he was trained 
  to keep talking until she hung up, so she said "Thanks!" and did. 

  Beth, who had to work really hard not to use "he growled" "I 
  laughed" or adverbs, but will leave in the "answered"




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