[h.b.chick]

To keep these people from calling, get phonetrayfreee from cnet.com.
This is a great free program
- load on your computer
- connect a phone line to your computer modem (can be done with a line splitter)
- run phonetrayfree (it will pop up in the background, when a call is received)
- add any telephone number you want to block
- add any groups of numbers you want to block, e.g. block all calls coming from the Buffalo, NY area code of 716. Buffa-low is the debt collection and scam headquarters of the world now that all the honeymooner hotels and steel mills have closed, the debt collection and scam call industry took root there. Many deceitful calls come out of the 716 area code.

Tip: If you get a call you don't recognize, look it up in 800notes.com . If it is a debt collector or scammer (it's getting hard to tell the difference), simply block the call using phonetrayfree.

I was getting many calls from debt collectors who thought I was someone else. (Person with a similar name.) I received many threats, including one death threat. Some collectors said they had filed papers in court, which, of course, would be retracted if I just sent them money. Another collector called early one Saturday morning, and woke me up saying that big guys were on their way to my house. I told him that they had better bring guns bigger than mine because they would be shot dead. Other debt collectors threatened to have me arrested, unless, of course, I sent them money immediately.

These types of calls went on for two years, from different debt collectors, who had misidentified me as their target. (Some of these calls were from big name so-called legitimate debt collectors, e.g., Portfolio Recovery Associates.) On every call, I told the collector vermin that their skiptrace had failed and they were contacting the wrong person. For periods of time they would call five or six times a day. Finally, I got phonetrayfree. Now I just look up the number in 800notes.com, see that it is a nuisance call and then zap the number with phonetrayfree. It’s so very simple.

Though I have never missed paying a bill in my life, I have grown to absolutely loath debt collectors and their tactics. These are the most rude and most sub-human species I have ever come across. I wish them and their lot all the worse. The FDCPA, FTC, and ACA have failed to reel them in. Hopefully, the CFPB will be able to get control over the renegade debt collection industry that is causing so much harm to so many.