Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan warned people to watch out for calls from fake payday loan debt collectors. The scam artists are posing as debt collectors in order to get personal information and money. Madigan says the scammers are threatening consumers with legal action and jail time if they don’t authorize payments from bank accounts.
Madigan says her office has seen an increase in consumer complaints about fake collectors. Those being called say they have taken out online payday loans in the past, but paid it of long ago. Phone calls from the fake collectors seem to be coming from outside the US and the scammers are already armed with personal data about the victim including name, Social Security Number and employer. Officials say often the scam artists will say they’re calling on behalf of a law enforcement agency. The con men will threaten legal action if immediate payments aren’t made.
The Attorney General’s office says some of the names being used by the bogus debt collectors include Morgan & Associates, Federal Bureau of Investigators, DNR Recovery, DNI Recovery, Legal Accounts Association, Department of Law and Enforcement, CashNet USA, America Legal Services, Quick Cash, and ACS. Some of these names are fake and other’s are legitimate, but are being used without permission.
So if you get a call from a threatening debt collector keep these tips from the Attorney General in mind:
- You cannot go to jail for failing to pay a debt;
- If you are threatened in any way by the debt collector, hang up and file a complaint with the Attorney General’s office;
- Do not give out any personal information over the telephone, including bank account numbers or credit card numbers;
- When in doubt, ask the debt collector to provide you with documentation that substantiates the debt they are trying to collect;
- Contact the original creditor and ask whether the debt has been paid. If it has not, confirm that the debt was sold to a third party collector before making a payment.
You can report suspicious behavior by calling the Illinois Attorney General’s Consumer Fraud Hotline at the following numbers:
Chicago 1-800-386-5438
Springfield 1-800-243-0618
Carbondale 1-800-243-0607
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