Wise to the Collection Scam 206-855-5350

Heads up on a new collection phone number: 206-855-5350. I received a call from an Officer "Tom Scott" claiming the same as most collections posts. He'd also contacted my adult daughter in another state. In the evening when I called the number (206-855-5350) the voice mail said William Walter (it was the same voice as the voice mail on both my phone and my daughter's phone). I've dealt with this scam before, so I called at 7:00 in the morning and asked for Officer Tom Scott. I had done my research already and was pretty certain this was a scam. He told me he was Officer Scott's supervisor William Walter. It wasn't until later that he added Officer and a phoney badge number. He started trying to verify my info. I stopped him and asked what company he was "collecting" for. He gave me some vague BS about EME Marketing who owns a host of internet payday loan companies (he sounded like a commercial for them). I stopped him again and insisted on WHICH company. I told him I would not confirm or deny anything until I knew who the company was. He got frustrated and told me to stop interrupting him so he could finish reading his prompt. I nearly laughed out loud at that!

Anyway...long story longer. I got a little more info out of him and then laid into him. I told him the call was being recorded and that my attorney was working with the AG for my state and the call was being traced. I informed him that he was in violation of numerous FDCPA laws, federal and state laws--including impersonating an officer, in violation of US Bankruptcy laws, Identify Theft (which is a 20 year imprisonment and $100,000 fine) and repeated FTC violations as well. He got a little incensed and insisted that he WAS an officer and repeated his "badge #". I told him I could say I was Officer Suzy Q with badge #123 and that didn't make me an officer! He then tried to tell me I was breaking the law by calling him before 8am. Again...almost choked on the laughter. I let him know those provisions of FDCPA applied to collectors, not consumers. I ended up my pleasant little conversation with him by telling him I'd already contacted EME and they not only didn't have an officer Tom Scott or William Walter working for them, that they did not use any outside collection agencies to collect. So add hacking into a company's data base to the list of illegal activities!

By this time he's angry and goes into a loop--repeating what he'd already said. I told him my attorney would be contacting him and we were cooperating with all authorities to pursue him to the fullest extent of the law. "Officer Walters" told me he hopes I can sleep at night and hung up. We have a trace on the number which is "assigned" to Belleview, Washington but is actually running out of the West Indies.

So to sum up my advice: Call them back (but hide your ID or they most likely won't answer), call early in the morning. Do some research and DO NOT give them ANY information about yourself no matter what they say. Turn everything you have over to the FTC, BBB, and local law enforcement. You may need to contact the 3 credit bureaus to notify them of ID theft if they do have your info. Good Luck and don't let up on the crooks!