Self-sighting...Sorry to disappoint

[taxguykarl]

Self sighting:

My apologizies to those in the debt collection field--I lost it after dealing with these morons.

I had been receiving voice-mail messages from someone who identified themselves as 'Department of Education' calling about a student loan. I deleted these robocall messages as I have been out of school for over 20 years and my loan is long paid off. The time stamps indicated that the calls were every other hour.

I finally called the 800 number they left. The phone jockey asked for my social security number right off the bat. My reply was "No, f***ing way, you stinking scam artist."

She replied that she really was Department of Education (note that she didn't identify her organization when she answered--just asked for my SSN).

She then asked for my phone number. I gave it and asked who the alleged debtor was. She gave a name with the same surname as yours truly but a first name that I did not recognize. I told her that this is neither the name of a resident or relative of either resident. The phone jockey then offered to remove my name from their call list. I thanked her in an admittedly snide tone.

Again, my apologizies to debt collectors here.

[Mnemjian]

I think you're pretty justified in being angry at what really seemed to be a poorly thought-out scam. Maybe it was? What kind of professional starts off a phone call to a stranger with "can I have your SSN?" without even identifying themselves? Completely absurd. If it was really the DOE then wouldn't they have your SSN already?

[Rapscallion]

If it was really the DOE then wouldn't they have your SSN already?

Probably, but with the number of people with similar names it may be a poorly thought out attempt to confirm they have the right person.

Rapscallion

[Soulstealer]

Probably, but with the number of people with similar names it may be a poorly thought out attempt to confirm they have the right person.

Rapscallion

Whenever I've had to talk to a government agency and they wanted confirmation they just asked for the last four digits rather than the full number. I'm going to have to agree that it sounds like a scam. Also a student loan agent even if it's a government would identify themselves by their subdepartment or agency rather than as part of the Education department.

[blas]

Hey, you have my sympathy for dealing with the every hour phone calls.

I understand we have debt collectors on this site, and I really don't mean to spew venom at them, especially because most of the time it's robo calls and not even a real person calling......but after what I've been through lately with Dell, something really has to change with debt collectors/robo calls calling people every hour.....I mean, that cannot be legal.

[Food Lady]

Going through that myself with one creditor. Several times a day from the auto-dialer. It's kind of funny; I get voicemails that go like this: "Hello? Hello?....click"

[Akasa]

I had one debt collector calling me at 3, 4, and 5am I got tired fo being woke up at too fing early and called the FTC on them. Next time they called I told them I was sick of getting called at the wee hours of the morning, they keep calling me so I called the FTC on them. Haven't heard from them again.

[Sightings Reporter]

I am getting calls from a number of different agencies for "Tom" who apparently had my phone number before me. It is very frustrating! I don't bother answering anymore b/c me telling them that I am not "Tom" and I don't know him doesn't help.

[Andara Bledin]

Step 1: Get the return call information.
Step 2: Demand that they not call your number ever again (this is valid, even if the person they're calling for is you).
Step 3: If they call again, file harrassment charges.

It doesn't matter if someone has a business relationship with you; if you're in the US and you don't want them calling you, they are prohibited from doing so. You can actually force them to only deal with you via US mail. Because you pay your phone bill, so they can't use it without your permission.

This won't stop scammers or scummy direct marketers, but actual debt collectors will sometimes lie through their teeth, but will mark you as not to be called because they don't want to deal with the fines.

I have had to threaten one scum-of-the-earth browbeating debt collector trying to collect on an already paid-off debt and AT&T before either party stopped hassling me. If they know you're serious, they'll almost always stop.

^-.-^