Major Scam - Does anyone know what we can do?

[LimpinAintEZ]

I want to nail these bastards- sorry for the language, but here it goes - i'm thinking about posting this on my site also, cause I want to nail these people! This is such BS!
I got a letter from AFNICOLLECTIONS this weekend with a balance from Verizon for a bill from 1998. I call them up and they have my soc. sec. # and want the check by phone. I tell them it isn't mine, they got the wrong person and they can go to hell. I just cleaned up all my credit last time we bought a new house. So at lunch i go investigate a bit - i checked my credit reports and nothing about this was on any of them...so i type in AFNI collections and 8 of the 10 hits are all complaints filed against this company! Apparently the same scam, old Verizon land line bills - most of them are like $600 and what not - So I call them up and ask them why they haven't reported this to my credit agency's, and why when I type in their name all I get are a list of complaints file against them - Fuck I'm pissed! And it's scary because they have my soc. sec. # - I filed a complain with the FTC, but all they can do is "keep it on file" WTF???? they are obviously scam artists and all the government can do is keep it on file? I told those fucking assholes to go to hell - god damned i'm mad - I gotta file a complaint with the police department now - bastards -

so everyone, look out for unsuspecting collection letters from super old accounts - Check your credit and type in that name...it looked real official and when I called they were sounding just like a collection agency...I'm guessing more often than not people don't bother to research everything...god that pisses me off so much - I really cannot believe there is nothing we can do about it - just file complaints which do no good? WOW!

[Galapogos]

I just ignore all bill collections legit or not as a general rule of thumb.

[WildBobAA]

yea that's pretty fucked up, especially because they had your SSN

[LimpinAintEZ]

my boss told me to contact the Attorney Generals office, so I will be doing that tomorrow - I'm also filing a police report. Other than that, I don't know what else to do...I did post this on my fantasy message boards and another friend of mine got this exact kind of letter - He called them up and paid them $240 - scary - i'm going to do everything I can, cause that just pisses me off to no end - They actually have a local station here KOMO4 that does like a crimebusters thing - I was going to send my story to them also...maybe some media coverage would be good -

[BoondockSaint]

Damn man sorry to hear that. That would royally piss me off too. Everything I would want to do falls into the illegal realm of justice so I better not say it.

[ensign_lee]

That news thing sounds like a good idea. can't believe hte FTC said that they'd just "file it."

That's f*ed up.

[LimpinAintEZ]

i sent my story in to KOMO4 Problem Solvers - hopefully they will go after it - I'm calling the attorney generals office today at lunch -

this is my new mission -

[LimpinAintEZ]

so today I filed a complaint with the WA State Attorney Generals Office. I also called a lawyer - I am going to see if I can file a lawsuit against this company. I have already found 3 people that also got this same letter. They gotta be stopped -

[LimpinAintEZ]

update - Sorry if it seems like i am beating a dead horse but I have now found 3 people who got this same letter and paid it. I sent this to a consumer protection lawyer today and intend on filing a class action lawsuit -

So get this - Suing a collection agency, if you win, will get you costs/expenses and a maximum of $1,000 in damages - Now I understand there are a lot of deadbeats and collection agencies need a little leeway, but if they are doing something SO wrong - and this is the epitomy of wrong - they should be stopped. The last person I found paid $1,200! they threatened to garnish her wages if she didn't pay it - same thing, Fake Verizon land line bill from like 10 years before -

So if you, or anyone you know, has received this letter please PM me and give me your info - I am going to take this as far as I possibly can -

thanks

[salsa4ever]

I think this is great what you're doing.

You have my full support, and I think FTR is with you too. If you need anything, or wanna brainstorm, I'm here for you brother!

I'm trained in Australian law, but I'm sure there's all sorts of useful people on FTR.