Phantom Debt.

 A lawsuit against Universal Debt and Payment solutions was revealed, alleging the firm’s tactics included purchasing personal information from data brokers that operators could use to convince victims to pay debt they didn’t owe.

 

Agents tell consumers they risked jail time if they didn’t pay immediately. The claims were bolstered by operators’ citing personal information, including bank account numbers, the CFPB alleges, that had originally been obtained by payday loan lead generation websites and sold to data brokers.

 

The caller stated that he had a ‘restraining order against (the consumer) to appear in court if I didn’t settle with them.’ The caller said the consumer had 24 hours to pay $500 on a $1,600 debt to Bank of America, or the collector would ‘contact (the consumer’s) employer to levy (his) wage, and they were also contacting the local police to serve papers,’” the lawsuit alleges

 

Consumers were harassed, threatened, and deceived as part of a reprehensible scheme to collect debt that was not even owed,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “We are taking action against the many parties that allegedly contributed to this phantom debt collection operation. The ringleaders of the scheme, the telemarketing company that broadcast millions of robo-calls, and the companies that processed the payments should all be held accountable for taking advantage of vulnerable consumers.”

I suggest the chair.  Just a thought.