Collection Agency Using ID Spoofing

[Zigner]

Pretty damned likely unless FlyingRon is very careful to keep his new number from being accessible in the databases.
Do you think these idiots have memories? They go on to their other suckers and then when it's time again they do another search and try every number they find again.

SMH

How would YOUR name and number be connected to the deadbeat's name? It only happens if you either "inherit" the number when you get a new one, or of the deadbeat (or his associates) give it to them. Now, this could happen once, bit it's pretty damned unlikely to happen THREE times.

 

[CdwJava]

Bullpoop. As I said earlier it is pathetically easy. Type in a name and an approximate location and it will kick back names, addresses, phone numbers, and "related" people.

Related ... as in family associated or once associated with that residence. Such a public search is not going to give up friends and family not related to the address or number. Some searches will include lists of people that MIGHT be associated (which happens when I search for myself), and family that USED to be associated with my address, but it doesn't gibe up any of my cousins, in-laws, or friends. I haven't lived with my sister for more than 30 years and her name will still be associated with mine on some searches - likely because we used to live at the same residence.

If someone wants to put in the legwork and spend a few bucks, you might be able to find out about at least some friends - those on Facebook or open social media accounts, or even on public boards or forums. With enough effort tracking down friends' and extended family CAN be done ... it just seems an awful lot of work.

 

[STEPHAN]

My business has a local number with 7 same numbers like (xxx) 666 6666.

(It is not 6.)

A few people give this out as their number when they do not want to give out a number.

Before we had a filter system, we got hundreds of these CA calls per month. They are quite inventive, I found nothing that you can do about it. I hope I never have to deal with them officially.

 

[Just Blue]

SMH

How would YOUR name and number be connected to the deadbeat's name? It only happens if you either "inherit" the number when you get a new one, or of the deadbeat (or his associates) give it to them. Now, this could happen once, bit it's pretty damned unlikely to happen THREE times.

SMH!! My Phone # used to be a deadbeats # ...I get 4 or 5 calls a day (that I don't pick up) from collection company's .

I also get "spoof calls" from friends, family and...dat da da daaaaaa... MYSELF! I told them 7 YEARS AGO that Mr XYZ no longer had this #....They did not listen.

 

[Zigner]

SMH!! My Phone # used to be a deadbeats # ...I get 4 or 5 calls a day (that I don't pick up) from collection company's .

I also get "spoof calls" from friends, family and...dat da da daaaaaa... MYSELF! I told them 7 YEARS AGO that Mr XYZ no longer had this #....They did not listen.

Right - as do I on my cell phone (it took about 5 years to taper off, but still happens occasionally.) But, the calls for Danny Deadbeat would stop coming in to my phone if I changed my number

 

[cbg]

I'm just throwing this in; anyone who feels it's irrelevant is free to ignore it.

There's at least one of those data bases out there where if you type in my married name, you get nothing. Zip. No such person exists.

If you type in my maiden name, you get my husband; my kids; my best friend; her deceased husband; her step children; her mother; a cousin of my husband whom I have never met, lives 3000 miles away and whom my husband has not seen in 30 years; my cousin's wife who has the same first name as I do (spelled differently) and thus has the same name I used to have; and a person who shares a last name with my husband, kids and me whom none of us have ever heard of and does not appear to be related at all.

And no, I did not accidentally transpose "married name" and "maiden name". My CURRENT name shows zip. My PRIOR name is the one that shows all the connections from my life both before and after marriage.

In addition, there is an individual over in Ireland who shares both a first and last name with me to whom I have no known connection even by marriage other than that we share a name. However, I have received emails clearly addressed to her; invitations to a baby shower obviously meant for her, emailed confirmations of restaurant reservations in a city I have not visited in almost thirty years and have no intention of visiting at any time in future, and have gotten phone messages ON MY WORK PHONE for restaurant and theatre reservations in the same city. Yes; I have checked; I am not the victim of identity theft. It's just that this woman in Dublin has relatives in the city in question and visits them frequently. Over time, I've gotten to know quite a bit about her.

So I don't find it at all difficult to believe that our OP could somehow, in cyberspace, be connected to the person who actually owes the bills without him being actually connected.

 

[Mark Maroon]

So I don't find it at all difficult to believe that our OP could somehow, in cyberspace, be connected to the person who actually owes the bills without him being actually connected.

Yes, we all know that lots of information about people, their various names, telephone numbers, relatives, friends, blah blah, can be easily found - and much of it is old or just plain wrong information. But the OP's situation is not as simple as that, and using this thread to discuss all of the various ways that debt collectors CAN find information and all of the various ways that debt collectors CAN try to find and pressure the debtor, misses the point about the OP and THIS thread.

I think Zinger summarized the OP's post best: Let's say that DiverDan doesn't pay his bills. The bill collectors got FlyingRon's phone number connected to DiverDan somehow and call (a lot), including using spoofed numbers. In response, FlyingRon changes his phone number. Shortly thereafter, the bill collectors start to call FlyingRon's new number asking for DiverDan, so he changes it again. Shortly afterwards, the collectors start calling FlyingRon asking for DiverDan AGAIN, including using spoofed numbers that, coincidentally, belong to relatives of FlyingRon.

The second sentence of Zinger's summary would not surprise me at all. But a debt collector who calls new numbers that the OP received, and spoofs CID numbers of relatives of the OP, all while looking for someone totally unrelated to the OP or the OP's relatives, well, that just seems unlikely to me. Possible, sure. Likely, not.

 

[cbg]

As I said, if you don't feel it relevant, feel free to disregard. The search that connected me to Brian (lastname) to whom I have no connection other than the fact that we share a last name was not done by phone number. So I could have changed my number a dozen times and it wouldn't have affected that search.

But you know best.

 

[Mark Maroon]

As I said, if you don't feel it relevant, feel free to disregard. The search that connected me to Brian (lastname) to whom I have no connection other than the fact that we share a last name was not done by phone number. So I could have changed my number a dozen times and it wouldn't have affected that search. But you know best.

Again, the situation that you describe here sounds VERY different from the situation that the OP described (the OP didn't describe sharing ANY information - let alone the same last name - with the actual debtor that the debt collectors were trying to contact).

If you don't like me trying to return the discussion in THIS thread to the OP's situation, then feel free to disregard my comments and continue to discuss the many horrible things that debt collectors do, how they can get old and bad information, how they can harass people unrelated to the actual debtor, how they can spoof CID numbers, etcetera. I certainly agree with all of those things.

 

[cbg]

I don't think I've been the one derailing the discussion. I've not been discussing debt collectors at all directly. The only point I've been trying to make is that, based on my own experience, I have no trouble believing the OP when he says he has no connection with the people who incurred the bill. I get that you do. I also get that you don't like my stating a contrary view to yours.

Having, I hope, made the only point that it was my intent to make (and if I haven't, at this point I don't really care), I am bowing out of the discussion and will leave it to you to direct the thread.

Carry on.

 

[STEPHAN]

OP doesn't you carrier offer a trapping service that you call after the CA called you to find out who they really are so you can then contact them and start further action?

 

[NigelBlackstone]

OP doesn't you carrier offer a trapping service that you call after the CA called you to find out who they really are so you can then contact them and start further action?

No they don't, unfortunately. My carrier either tells me that service is for law enforcement only, or that they have no way of tracking that. The first one I believe and the second statement I don't believe.

 

[Mark Maroon]

OP doesn't you carrier offer a trapping service that you call after the CA called you to find out who they really are so you can then contact them and start further action?

The phone service terms like "trap" and "trace" are very old (they predate CID). There is no such service in the way that people commonly think of it (eg. that you can actually somehow "trap" the originating number of a telephone call when the CID number was spoofed, or that you can somehow "trace" the call to the caller while you have them on the line - like they do in police TV shows).

The only thing that the OP's telephone service provider can do is tell them what the CID number of any particular call is, and if that CID number was spoofed, then that's all they can get is the spoofed CID number. Any which way you want to try and slice it, that's the way it is. If you know of ANYONE who says that they have actually received a call from a spoofed CID number and that their telephone service provider (or the police or anyone else) was able to obtain the telephone number that the call actually originated from, then...[dun...dun]...that person is lying.

 

[Lilylulu]

This isn't timely....

But, I'm shocked at the responses and "advice" being delivered to this person who obviously has a legitimate issue with being harassed. Instead of berating this guy & accusing him of being a deadbeat who doesn't pay his bills, perhaps follow the concept behind this website & give him assistance he could actually use?Whats next? Are you people going to automatically blame rape victims? I'm shocked & appalled

 

[Zigner]

I've reviewed the ENTIRE thread. The newbie is just wrong. There's nothing to be shocked or appalled at with regard to the OP - the rest of it was people discussing one aspect without reference to the OP at all.