Alleged Collection Agency Wants Me to Pay Them 700 George Washington Dollars, and 2 Cents Less Than 50 Cents

[RDCanecutter 26896]

For a Verizon debt that went into default and was charged off in 2010.

I never had a Verizon account, but just to be safe, I sent these folks my SSN, credit card #, bank log-in, and a dirty sock full of twenties.

Actually, no, I haven't responded, and definitely didn't click any links in their email.

I think it's 50% likely these are scammers, 25% it's something in my deceased dad RDCanecutter Sr.'s name, and 25% ID theft long ago (I had to shut down a credit card that got hacked in 2010, later than this alleged Verizon business, but hmmm.)

So am I obligated to address this in any way? I ran my own credit report last night and it is bizarrely respectable.

[pantone159 730]

My understanding (hopefully I will be corrected if wrong):

Do *NOT* pay anything on this account, whether or not the collection people are especially scammy or not. I think that, if you do pay anything, then that account is considered active again, and instead of having this 11 year old collections account (which should have dropped off your credit report), you will then have a 1 day old active but delinquent account, and THEN your credit will be negatively affected by this.

EDIT: On actually reading your message, I see that this is not actually your account, so doubly-extra you should ignore it. But if it WAS your account somehow, still do not pay anything.

[RDCanecutter 26896]

Yep. It ain't me, not even Forgetful Me-- in 2011 I took out a car loan and even back then there was zero mention of any bad debts. And if you can't trust VW, who can you trust.

[freyguy 4368]

Take this word of advice..

Noone will ever contact you via a phone call or email for anything legit.  It will come via a letter, courier or in person...

Edited May 27, 2021 by freyguy

[Pato del Muerto 53513]

I got an email yesterday. Never gotten an email before. For a card that was charged off in 2004, and an amount about 4x the highest ever balance on that account.  They also are trying to scare me by writing that if I don’t respond to dispute it they will take that as acceptance of validity.  But I’m not dumb enough to respond in any way and restart that clock. 
 

they also must be legally obligated to include a sentence saying the debt is too old to report to the credit bureaus. 

[tbone_ 14451]

I had some sort of long distance company trying to fuck with me like this back in the day. Somehow I figured out they were based in Florida and filed a complaint with the Florida AG office. AG actually investigated and the shitbags completely retracted their demand and sent me an apology letter.

[RDCanecutter 26896]

15 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

They also are trying to scare me by writing that if I don’t respond to dispute it they will take that as acceptance of validity.  But I’m not dumb enough to respond in any way and restart that clock. 

Sounds like we got the same letter. Was yours from TrueAccord? Mine allegedly is.

Anyway, about that whole "If you don't dispute this within 30 days we'll take it as admission that the debt is legit," I see that as a life-changing opportunity. I plan to email 10,000 people about how they owe me $500, and they have 30 days to deny or else they are admitting they owe it. Maybe I'll take it to court some place where the judge is my 11-toed cousin.

[RDCanecutter 26896]

15 hours ago, freyguy said:

Take this word of advice..

Noone will ever contact you via a phone call or email for anything legit.  It will come via a letter, courier or in person...

I dunno. See, this Verizon bill is the least of my worries. Yesterday I got a phone message telling me the government suspended my Social Security Number due to suspicious activity.

I am being made into a non-person.

[freyguy 4368]

That's funny.  Just wait till Franklin Benjamin from the Department of Revenue calls you, saying you owe $10,000 in back taxes.

[atomheartbevo 90652]

On 5/27/2021 at 11:36 AM, RDCanecutter said:

I dunno. See, this Verizon bill is the least of my worries. Yesterday I got a phone message telling me the government suspended my Social Security Number due to suspicious activity.

I am being made into a non-person.

I get these calls every few weeks.  Very considerate of the robot making the call to let me know my SSN is suspended. 

[atomheartbevo 90652]

On 5/26/2021 at 7:53 PM, Pato del Muerto said:

I got an email yesterday. Never gotten an email before. For a card that was charged off in 2004, and an amount about 4x the highest ever balance on that account.  They also are trying to scare me by writing that if I don’t respond to dispute it they will take that as acceptance of validity.  But I’m not dumb enough to respond in any way and restart that clock. 
 

they also must be legally obligated to include a sentence saying the debt is too old to report to the credit bureaus. 

These people are making a lot of money off of olds who can’t remember the details, but think it’s vaguely familiar, and they get scared and pay up.  

[RDCanecutter 26896]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

I get these calls every few weeks.  Very considerate of the robot making the call to let me know my SSN is suspended. 

I keep trying to talk to a human about why my warranty expired on my 1995 car. It seems important, but the robot just keeps talking.

[KYHorn 17615]

On 5/27/2021 at 12:23 PM, RDCanecutter said:

Sounds like we got the same letter. Was yours from TrueAccord? Mine allegedly is.

Anyway, about that whole "If you don't dispute this within 30 days we'll take it as admission that the debt is legit," I see that as a life-changing opportunity. I plan to email 10,000 people about how they owe me $500, and they have 30 days to deny or else they are admitting they owe it. Maybe I'll take it to court some place where the judge is my 11-toed cousin.

Eleven?! This is something new. I wish I had eleven too.