Telephone Harassment From "Mystery" Creditor May be a Scam.

Over the last few months an alarming number of my clients have reported an unusually belligerent creditor calling them on the phone to demand payment for debts.  Telephone harassment by creditors isn't all that unusual, but in this case there are some common features to the call that suggest it is part of a fraudulent pattern designed to scare you into coughing up some money to someone you don't owe!  The biggest tipoff is that the caller does not care that you have filed for bankruptcy and have a bankruptcy case number.  Any legitimate creditor based in the United States knows that a debtor who has filed bankruptcy is fully protected and cannot be harassed or even spoken to.  To disregard the protection of bankruptcy puts the creditor in grave risk of huge sanctions; no real creditor would knowingly do so.  Also, the creditor will not identify which debt they are calling about.  Instead, they will say something like, "You owe $3,500 for an Internet loan.  I will accept $500 right now as payment in full."  My clients tell the caller they do not have any Internet loans and ask for the date and the website of the loan, but the caller will angrily say he does not have to provide that information.  Huh?  Usually these calls devolve into shouting matches with the caller angrily listing all of the consequences he will rain down on my client if they don't give him a credit card or other immediate form of payment.  He will say things like he is sending in the federal marshals to take you to jail and other nonsense that is totally impossible but also very scary.  Clearly, this technique is working to scare some people into giving him the cash.   Remember: once you file bankruptcy you are completely protected from this kind of stuff, so don't give in to it.  Contact your lawyer if it happens to you.