If you’re going to lie when trying to attempt to collect a debt, you may as well go all the way.
A pair of Florida companies, Hardco Holdings and S&H Financial Group Inc., and a pair of individuals — Daryl M. Hall and Dequan M. Sicard — have been charged with violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for allegedly calling individuals, some of them who did not even have a debt in the first place, and pretended to be lawyers. The scheme netted nearly $700,000, according to a copy of the complaint, which can be accessed here. The Federal Trade Commission announced the complaint this morning.
When contacting individuals, the defendants engaged in exactly the type of behavior that people who run afoul of the FTC that you think they would engage in, namely threatening people with jail time and telling them they had committed felonies.
The defendants threatened lawsuits and never filed any, they threatened jail time, and in some cases, the individuals they were calling did not owe anything, according to the FTC. What made the process so effective was that when contacting individuals, the collectors would give individuals a callback number, along with a case number, and ask the individuals to call the phone number.
In numerous instances, the collectors state that the consumer must call another number for more information, then provide a callback number and a “case number” for the consumer to reference when calling. In some instances, the collectors describe the court action as a civil lawsuit, while in other instances, the action is described as a criminal case.
When contacting individuals, the defendants did not read or recite the mini-Miranda to individuals, because what’s the point when you’re already breaking the law, right?
A temporary restraining order has been placed against the defendants, keeping them from engaging in any collection-related activities
