Consumer complaint received 2025-09-14 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: January Technologies, Inc
State: MD

Complaint narrative:
I am being contacted regarding a debt I am not a party to. The original debt was with a company called XXXX. That debt has now been transferred to a collection agency called January. I have attempted to resolve this with both XXXX and January and have not been successful. 

I received the first email from XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. This email contained a statement that I had a debt with XXXX. At no time prior to this email had I been contacted by XXXX, and at no time did they attempt to confirm that I as the owner of the email account " { REMOVED } '' was the person they were doing business with. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent the following email : Dear Sirs, You should be aware that this transaction is likely fraudulent. I have not completed any transactions in the state of XXXX  recently, nor do I have a credit or debit card ending with the XXXX digits described. 

Sincerely, { REMOVED } On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the following response : Thanks for contacting us. 

We apologize that you received an email about our service. 

If your email address was entered in error, please note there was no credit inquiry initiated. You can contact us at XXXX to verify if this account was created using your information. 

Finally, we have many steps and checks in place to verify someones identity besides just an email address. For further details on how we store personal information, please review our * * Privacy Policy * * at www.smartpaylease.com/privacy. 

If you would no longer like to receive information about our services and upcoming promotions, you may unsubscribe from our email messages. To do so, please follow the steps below : Open an email from XXXX. 
At the bottom of the email, click the " XXXX XXXX '' link. 
When the new page loads, click XXXX to unsubscribe from XXXX emails. 

Thanks again, and have a great day. 

Best, Customer Support Team On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an overdue notice. On XX/XX/XXXX, I replied to the email with the following message : Dear Sirs, As I have indicated in my responses to your XXXX previous emails, this transaction is likely fraudulent. While I respect your right to attempt to recover your debt, I do object to your continuing to contact me regarding a transaction which I have indicated I am not a part of. Please remove me from all further correspondence regarding this matter. 

Sincerely, { REMOVED } On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX again sent me an overdue notice. I replied on XX/XX/XXXX with the following : Dear Sirs, In regards to account number { REMOVED }, this is your fourth communication to me. As in the case of the previous XXXX communications, I have responded that this is likely a fraudulent transaction that has nothing to do with me. In addition, after your last communication, I asked to not be contacted further regarding this matter. 

This account was created with my email address without any attempt by your company to determine if the email was valid or was owned by the person executing the transaction. 

Please confirm receipt of this email and your intent to not contact me further. 

{ REMOVED } Prior to XX/XX/XXXX, I filed a formal complaint with XXXX, and received the following confirmation on XX/XX/XXXX : Dear { REMOVED }, Your feedback has been successfully submitted. 

Your case number is : { REMOVED } Customer satisfaction is most important to us. We've provided a case number for you to check on the status of your case or to provide additional information. Please contact the applicable Toll-Free number below to check the status of your submission : - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX Thank you, -XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX <<This email box is not monitored for responses>> On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the following email : Dear { REMOVED }, Thank you for contacting SmartPay regarding your account. Please contact Customer Support by calling XXXX and one of our friendly agents will be able to assist you. 

Customer Support Business Hours : - Monday - Saturday XXXX AM - XXXX PM XXXX - Sunday XXXX AM - XXXX PM XXXX Thank you, -XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX <<This email box is not monitored for responses. Please visit www.smartpaylease.com/contact to submit additional feedback>> After this exchange, XXXX continued to contact me over XXXX times regarding this debt. 

I received the first communication from a debt collector, XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXX. I contacted them via email with all of the information above. They responded that they had " confirmed '' the debt and indicated they would continue to contact me. 

After consulting an attorney, I filed a notice of identify theft with the Federal Trade Commission. I sent that information to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX replied on XX/XX/XXXX that they had again " confirmed '' the debt and would continue to contact me. 

In all of this, the only thing that has ever been provided to me as evidence is the signed agreement that has my email address on it. At no point did either XXXX or January attempt to verify the ownership of that email. The physical address associated with this account does not match mine, and there is no indication that my social security number was used in the transaction. This is purely an issue related to the fraudulent use of my email address.

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