In recent years, reports of consumers receiving harassing calls by scam artists pretending to be payday loan debt collectors attempting to collect on supposedly delinquent payday loans has been on the rise. These scam artists use various coercion techniques, including abusive language, threats of bodily harm or arrest in an attempt to bully victims in to sending them money. Unfortunately, many consumers have been frightened into submission and send money that they do not owe to these fake debt collectors. According to the most recent report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), scammers have been using a tactic known as spoofing, or placing a call that appears to be coming from a different number than the one that they are calling from. According to the IC3 these criminals have been spoofing police departments’ phone numbers when calling to convince victims of their impending arrest. The scam artist claims there is a warrant issued for the victim’s arrest for failure to pay off a loan. And to get law enforcement to actually show up at the victim’s home, scammers will place several, harassing phone calls to the police department while spoofing the victim’s phone number.
While these elaborate scams are difficult to prosecute, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, (FDCPA) and California’s Rosenthal Act offer consumers protection against harassment from legitimate debt collectors and telemarketers. If you have been harassed by a legitimate debt collector, you may be entitled to compensation. Please give my office, The Law Office of Todd M. Friedman a call today at (877) 449-8898 for a free case evaluation.
