During this recession many people are having a hard time juggling their bills, and that means bill collectors are sending out a lot of letters. But, as Local 12 Troubleshooter Howard Ain found, you need to ignore one bill you may receive, because it's a scam.
An email claiming to come from National Debt Collectors Incorporated was sent to Derrick Matthews of Newport, who thought it strange."I do have a past bill an old phone bill but the bill collector I deal with is out of California," says Matthews.
This Philadelphia company said it would settle his debt for more than $800. It asks Matthew to send the money via Western Union and Matthews always sends a check or money order, so he asked his wife about this. "She thought it was a scam too when I told her about it. I said I'll forward it to Howard Ain and see what he says."
Matthew says he doesn't owe nearly this much money and, interestingly, the letter fails to mention to whom the debt is owed. Yet, Matthews almost thought it was legit. "I almost thought it was, till I read where it was from cause everybody does have bills and I'm sure people do deal with bill collectors," says Matthews.
The letter says to email them information about the Western Union payment. Matthews didn't do that, but he did try to email the company. "I did try to reply to the email message and now it says the email is not working, the email is no good," says Matthews.
It appears somebody closed down this thief, but he's likely to try again, so you need to beware. Howard says to protect yourself from such scams remember, never wire money to anybody you don't know.
An email claiming to come from National Debt Collectors Incorporated was sent to Derrick Matthews of Newport, who thought it strange."I do have a past bill an old phone bill but the bill collector I deal with is out of California," says Matthews.
This Philadelphia company said it would settle his debt for more than $800. It asks Matthew to send the money via Western Union and Matthews always sends a check or money order, so he asked his wife about this. "She thought it was a scam too when I told her about it. I said I'll forward it to Howard Ain and see what he says."
Matthew says he doesn't owe nearly this much money and, interestingly, the letter fails to mention to whom the debt is owed. Yet, Matthews almost thought it was legit. "I almost thought it was, till I read where it was from cause everybody does have bills and I'm sure people do deal with bill collectors," says Matthews.
The letter says to email them information about the Western Union payment. Matthews didn't do that, but he did try to email the company. "I did try to reply to the email message and now it says the email is not working, the email is no good," says Matthews.
It appears somebody closed down this thief, but he's likely to try again, so you need to beware. Howard says to protect yourself from such scams remember, never wire money to anybody you don't know.
Closed November 2010
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