Collectors blocking there number

[flyinbroke]

Well this is straight off the Texas OAG website:

http://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/debt_collection.shtml

Harassment and Fraud are Prohibited
State law prohibits the use of harassment and abusive collection tactics. It is illegal for any debt collector to:

threaten violence or other criminal acts;
use profane or obscene language;
falsely accuse the consumer of fraud or other crimes;
threaten arrest of the consumer, or repossession or other seizure of property without proper court proceedings;
use the telephone to harass debtors by calling anonymously or making repeated or continuous calls;
make collect telephone calls without disclosing the true name of the caller before the charges are accepted.

[WhatMoney]

Whatmoney, Thanks for the clarification. However, it is my understanding that the creditor had to have received a cell phone number from the debtor, not the CA.
The FCC ruling is here:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-232A1.pdf

This FCC rule applies to wireless phone numbers, where prior consent is required before calling. Also the restriction on autodialers. I did read the entire regulation before I commented. I can find nothing in the FCC rules that addresses or prevents Caller ID spoofing.

That is why Congress is trying to pass a bill specifically targeting Caller ID spoofing along with harsh civil penalties. There must be a law on the books before it can be enforced by a citizen through the Federal court system.

[WhatMoney]

Well this is straight off the Texas OAG website:

http://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/debt_collection.shtml

Harassment and Fraud are Prohibited
State law prohibits the use of harassment and abusive collection tactics. It is illegal for any debt collector to:

threaten violence or other criminal acts;
use profane or obscene language;
falsely accuse the consumer of fraud or other crimes;
threaten arrest of the consumer, or repossession or other seizure of property without proper court proceedings;
use the telephone to harass debtors by calling anonymously or making repeated or continuous calls;
make collect telephone calls without disclosing the true name of the caller before the charges are accepted.

This is just the Texas version of part of the FDCPA rules. Oregon has the same FDCPA version of rules that apply to all creditors, including the OC.

Note "calling anonymously" refers to falsifying who you are once you have connected to the debtor. If you spoof the Caller ID and then properly identify yourself on the telephone once connected, you are not calling anonymously. Therefore the TX rules do not make Caller ID illegal, UNLESS you continue to misrepresent yourself once connected for a fraudulent purpose.

Harassing debtors by repeated/continuous calls is illegal now under the FDCPA - there is no requirement that the Caller ID must also be spoofed. In most cases of repeated excess calls, the caller ID is simply blocked.

Accepting long distance collect calls is a special case, where a monetary loss can happen before speaking to the caller - what kind of collector is going to call you collect?

That's why I said the new HR1110 bill, Part 2, also does not make Caller ID spoofing illegal. Only if the deception continues once the call is answered would this be a violation of the proposed Caller ID law.

I guarantee if the wording is not more specific in the final version, that this law will be challenged in court immediately. Do you all realize there are at least half a dozen companies offering Caller ID spoofing in the USA today? They all claim they are legal, and their main clients are collection agencies, detective agencies, and law enforcement. Others wanting to legally spoof their Caller ID# for privacy reasons might be medical doctors and public/famous figures.

The facts are that a Caller ID law that simply prevented number spoofing, and nothing more, would be ruled unconstitutional. I've heard this already happened in the Florida courts.

[flyinbroke]

Well, I don't answer any call with all zeroes, or "private" or "no number" calls. I may change my VM to say this phone will not ring with blocked ID. Too bad prepaids don't offer call blocking like my VoIP does. I got rid of the CAs calling my home for someone else that way.

[GoingDown]

I have discovered that if you simply don't answer "unavailable" or "private caller" calls long enough, they go ahead and leave a message with their phone number. Then I just look their phone number up on Google and find their name and address and then send them a cease and desist letter, and then the phone calls stop again.