Today I experienced a new twist on an old scam. I was contacted by a "collector" trying to collect on a long distance bill from 2000 that I "owed" to Sprint. He wanted a little over $500 for "payment in full". I immediately became suspicious because at that time, I worked for a long distance phone company and my long distance charges were always billed through the local phone company (who coincidentally was sprint).

I requested that he send me proof. He then wanted to "verify" my address, home phone number, fax number, etc.  A real company would have all of that information in front of them. These people hope that you will want to "settle" the account quickly before the holiday.

So if you get a call like this, take precautions. If you can't remember having a particular service or patronizing an establishment, odds are you didn't. A legitimate debt will be on your credit report, but even those are suspect. If you dispute anything on your credit report, the collector has 30 days to provide proof of the debt or it has to be removed. The only thing you can count on is that the scammers will be trying out news ways of parting you from your hard earned money. -Charles

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