The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, is warning consumers to be on the alert for scam artists posing as debt collectors. It may be hard to tell the difference between a legitimate debt collector and a fake one. Sometimes a fake collector may even have some of your personal information, like a bank account number. A caller may be a fake debt collector if he:

is seeking payment on a debt for a loan you do not recognize;
refuses to give you a mailing address or phone number;
asks you for personal financial or sensitive information; or
exerts high pressure to try to scare you into paying, such as threatening to have you arrested or to report you to a law enforcement agency.

If you think that a caller may be a fake debt collector:
Ask the caller for his name, company, street address, and telephone number. Tell the caller that you refuse to discuss any debt until you get a written "validation notice." The notice must include the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor you owe, and your rights under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
If a caller refuses to give you all of this information, do not pay! Paying a fake debt collector will not always make them go away. They may make up another debt to try to get more money from you.

Stop speaking with the caller. If you have the caller's address, send a letter demanding that the caller stop contacting you, and keep a copy for your files. By law, real debt collectors must stop calling you if you ask them to in writing.

Do not give the caller personal financial or other sensitive information. Never give out or confirm personal financial or other sensitive information like your bank account, credit card, or Social Security number unless you know whom you're dealing with. Scam artists, like fake debt collectors, can use your information to commit identity theft ? charging your existing credit cards, opening new credit card, checking, or savings accounts, writing fraudulent checks, or taking out loans in your name.

Contact your creditor. If the debt is legitimate ? but you think the collector may not be ? contact your creditor about the calls. Share the information you have about the suspicious calls and find out who, if anyone, the creditor has authorized to collect the debt.

Report the call. Contact the FTC and your state Attorney General's office with information about suspicious callers. Many states have their own debt collection laws in addition to the federal FDCPA. Your Attorney General's office can help you determine your rights under your state's law.>

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt076.shtm

Yes, from these last comments, I suspect that they are calling about money owed to e-follet, which is the book store for Dallas County colleges, for late/non return fees for rented books. While the debts are most likely legitimate, the way this debt collection agency does business is not. I don't believe that e-follet is at fault, as their first collection attempts were not anywhere close to this. I suspect that it is a company that the original debt collector sells their uncollectable accounts to.

This is criminal for crying out loud.  She too is harassing my college age daughter about a book that has been rented.  I tried calling today on my daughters behalf, documenting the messages I am reading above.  I requested written documentation regarding these so called charges, and she tried to pass me to someone else.  I demanded SHE take action as she was the one harassing my daughter.  After raised voices and getting nowhere, I hung up on her.  I have no clue who this company is or how legit they are

These people are calling me and stating that I owe money to a book company I rented a book from. I never rented a book When I BOUGHT books it was with my fincial aid. NOT my account information.

This scare tactic is being used so much by the scammers and bottom of the barrel collections people,  that is really over used.  They are stepping on each other's toes and killing the validity of the threat.
This board really helps get the word out to people.   I wouldn't even talk to them.   Their mouth and the telephone is their only weapon..

DO NOT CALL THIS WOMAN BACK (Lisa Rose).  All these calls with these threatening voicemails are BS and are meant to intimidate you.  Should you have the funds to get legal help, I would.  In the meantime, be rest assured that if you did have any legal issues against you, you would not get it in a phone call like this one.  Block this call and tell Lisa should you get the chance to speak to her to get a REAL job.  Probably not even her real name.

This person called my sister and told her the same thing. Was very stern that they would file a suit. My sister paid the full charge of 410.00 out of money she did not have in fear that she had missed something. After she pays it Lisa then says we show that the address is different from yours. Come to find out it was my check. The check is in my name, my address and my phone number. Do not know where they got my sisters information from and they never asked for me...the person on the check. DO NOT pay this woman!!! Call the check processing company and pay them instead. Then you pay the check and their processing fee. She charged 180.00 per check like she was paying lawyers fees. BULL CRAP!!! If they threaten you with charges that is filed by the company you wrote the check through locally and the DA Worthless Check dept does not even charge that much!! This woman is the one who needs deception and fraud charges filed on. Remember,

Hi she has been calling me also ... she said that they will send me to court for the check that bounce even though i have already made one payment !!! have they taken more action against you ?? also I have my suspission that this is just a collection agency that is lying about being a lawyers office i tried to google the number to find the company info and cant seem to find anything?

who called me?

She tells me that I can be charged with deception and check fraud since I have a check that bounced. I explained that I have no funds, and she said she had no choice but to puch it thru. That was after she told me that she understood and was going to hold onto the file.

I got a call from her today as well, she said it was a legal matter pending aginst me. When I called I had to leave a message, I am sure she will keep calling but I have no income, not even unemployment. Why would she be so vague?? I think its rude to threaten people with legal action, additionally when people have no way to defend them selves from these people.

I got the same call today. It's a bunch of Crap. I wish there was a law to stop these people from harassing others.

I received a call from a Lisa Rose. She is calling from some law office. She has a VERY New York accent. She left a message stating their is a legal law suit pending against us. I didn'[t think bill collectors were allowed to leave a message like that. I tried to call back and get more info but it went straight to her voice mail.