Girlfriend is at home sick today, answered the phone and it was some collections company asking questions about our neighbors across the street. Wanted to know how many people were living there, how many kids, what cars they drove, if they had jobs, etc. GF didn't tell her shit. So then the collections girl asked if we could go over there and tell them to call the company ASAP. That was about the time my GF gave her a piece of her mind and hung up on her ***.

WTF is the deal here? Do collection agencies now harass all your neighbors to try to get you to pay up? Or is this some new type of scam going on?

 

Never heard that one before, sounds more like a homeland security ploy. Lock the doors, draw the curtains!

 

Next time, IMO, get their company information and rep name then give that to your neighbor so they can report it to the BBB.

 

I KNOW they will call relatives of someone they are looking to get money from because I've got those calls before but, I've never heard of them calling neighbors.

Register at www.donotcall.gov . It seems to slow the unsolicited calls down some. Also gives you the ability to complain(to that site) about telemarketers calling after you have been signed up for 31 days.

Also, make sure you tell any telemarketers(only if you have no legit business with them) to take you off their call list. Then if they call back document it and sue them.

 

i am with trever,sounds like homeand security or FEDS

 

I used to get a call from bill collectors because the person who had my number before me was a scammer and wrote a ton of hot checks. For three years this went on. I finally found out the lady was in jail, so after that I informed them of this and now I dont get bothered anymore. Also got a call a few months ago about a guy down the street, a bill collector looking for his number. When I told him yes I did know him but dont know his phone number, the guy became a smartass, so he got a good cursing in return. What do they do, get numbers from the phone book and hope someone knows the person.They are harrassing innocent people because of someone who wont pay their bills.IMO, they are worse than the people not paying their bill, at least that guy isnt calling me and bothering me.

 

Ever get a call saying you've won a free tv and "come on down" to pick it up....run!

 

Exactly. The gal who called said she cross referenced our phone number because our address is one number different from across the street. Need to ask my other neighbors if they are getting the same crap.

Just registered on the do not call list again. Registered there a few years ago, guess it expired (glad to see they fixed that). I think Texas has a do not call list of their own too.

Funny thing about all of this, my neighbor they are trying to call actually works for a telemarketing company. Guess he knows all the tricks of avoiding those *******.

 

I think they can. In Canada anyways, my chick sometimes gets calls from collectors looking for her pile o **** ex of 4 years ago.

When my Grandma moved into the home, I moved into her house (out of my parent's at the time) and took over her phone number and mailbox. She died mother's day of 05, but I still get a few calls asking for her. I just say, "No, she's long dead." Sometimes when I answer they say "Hello Mrs. Hoeser!" (it's pronounced Hazer, they say Hoser) and thank me for the generous donation I made to Blind Children's whatever bullshit last year. The last one who did that, 2 years after Grandma died, got called a crooked ******* cow and told never to call again. Another good tactic with telemarketers is to interrupt them and ask if they're stuck. You get some good silence, time enough to tell them they're reached a towing company, and that you can help pull them out if they're stuck in the mud. Confuses the **** out of them.

 

my question is, how in the hell did they know you lived across the street, down the street, or even know them at all.
this is not the first time i have heard this story.
most people i know have their numbers as unlisted, private, or unknown.

the only way i can think that this can happen is if you carry the same kind of card
they have.