Consumer complaint received 2020-03-10
Company: Amsher Collection Services, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was result of identity theft

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, I started to receive letters from XXXX about installment payments for an account that I did not open. They CCed these letters to a company named XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I went to a XXXX store and spoke to a representative who told me that someone had used my Social Security to open a mobile account with a bank account under my name and it seemed they also purchased devices with a card under my name. 

The next day I received a call from the XXXX  fraud department and told me that I needed to make a report with the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) and he also said that he couldn't deactivate the account or remove my name from it. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I completed a report with the FTC stating what was happening. Based on the FTC 's recommendations I also sent a letter to XXXX asking them to do three things : 1. close the unauthorized account 2. remove any charges on the unauthorized account and 3. take steps to remove information about this account from my credit files. I never got a response to this request. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I started to receive more installment payment letters. I went to a XXXX store and they contacted me with a XXXX fraud representative over the phone who told me I needed to make a police report and then take the report back to the XXXX store. I created a police report in XXXX XXXX, CA, in XX/XX/XXXX. I went back to the XXXX store, spoke with a store manager and gave him the police report, a personal identification, the FTC report and he said he had canceled the account and I did not have to worry about this anymore. 

I then started to receive more installment letters in XXXX of XXXX. I went to the XXXX store again, they told me to give them the same documents I had given them previously and that this time they would send them electronically to the fraud department. I sent all these documents to them electronically on XX/XX/XXXX, and then again on XX/XX/XXXX, after receiving more statements. They told me multiple times that I would get an electronic response with a case update but I never received anything from them. 

The installment letters stopped for a while but in XXXX, XXXX, I received a letter that said that my XXXX service was suspended and that there was a balance of {$1300.00} and if that if I didn't pay the entire balance there was the possibility of further collection activity including referral of the account to a collection agency. 

I got a final notice in XX/XX/XXXX, stating that this was my last opportunity before they turned it over to a collection agency. I called the XXXX customer service and spoke to a representative of the fraud department who told me that everything was documented and that they could not sent me to a collection agency because they didn't have my social security number. This was obviously not true since in XXXX of XXXX, I get an alert from my XXXX  credit monitoring report and it showed a derogatory account with the Amsher Collection Service. Interestingly I never got a notice about this collection action through regular mail. The outstanding amount for this collection agency is {$2100.00}. XXXX negligence has affected my credit score which has decreased from XXXX to XXXX.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation