If you're behind on payments, you can expect a collections agency to call asking for the timetable for getting money to them.  But what happens if you get a call and you're sure you don't owe anything?  That's the scenario we received today as some sneaky scam artist tried to portray themselves as an advertising company seeking collections against a business.  The tricky part was the real advertising company did legitimately have a deal with the business, however, the business did not owe any outstanding money.  The letter we received had very threatening language in it claiming to turn the business in to 3 different collections agencies, the police department and BBB if they didn't receive the payment in 1 week.

The business did the right thing by letting us know, but we are obviously concerned with the advertising company having their identity taken advantage of.  This hurts their image as well as sets them up for angry consumers to call them and potentially lose business.  The important thing to remember with people claiming you owe money is to have them send you WRITTEN proof of your outstanding debts and to double check the status of you account on your own through a customer service phone number which should be provided to you.  If you see a scam similar to this, feel free to send it our way at info@austin.bbb.org and as always, stay safe out there!