About a month ago Dim got a bill in the mail. It was from a creditor that had taken over his old Verizon account. The last time Dim was a customer of Verizon's was back in 2001 for our home phone. I specifically remember paying that bill because we were all of 19 back then so we didn't have that many responsibilities. It was pretty much get paid then pay rent, phone/DSL, car insurance and buy Ramen. Like I said, 19. We were not swimming in cash in those days. We aren't really in these days either, but I digress.
Our phone/DSL service never got cut off so obviously we were up to date on it. This bill claimed that we owed $385. Um, no we don't. Dim called the number on the letter and they told him that he needed to pay this bill immediately or they would take him to court. Dim asked why now were they collecting on this bill. They said they hadn't been able to find us.
I found it strange that we lived at the same address for three
years after moving from our apartment and we have lived in this house
in a whole other state for a year, and this is where they find us. We
won't talk about the fact that we have had two extensive credit checks
since leaving Verizon and they both have turned up clean. Not one
outstanding piece of debt. Hmmm.
I got a weird feeling about them because they had no real address. Only
a P.O Box. I quickly Googled AFNI, the creditor that was about to make
us sell organs to pay this unexpected bill. I found numerous sites that
had people sharing their stories of AFNI. All of them had these
outrageously expensive old Verizon bills. Some people were never even a
Verizon customer or never lived in the state that AFNI had the bill
for.
The weird thing is that AFNI showed the phone number that they were collecting on, and it was our old number. Dim called Verizon and they said that they give their old outstanding accounts to AFNI to take care of. They had no more record of our account so they couldn't even help us. (Verizon sucks.) Even so, it's been almost seven years since we have had that number. I was thinking they were trying to get some money before the statute of limitations ran out.
I still wasn't buying the fact that we really owed this money though. I vividly remember paying the very last Verizon bill because I got all misty that we were moving from our apartment. Dim, however, wasn't so sure. If asked, he couldn't remember what we had for dinner yesterday. He was scared to trust my instincts and was so close to paying but I convinced him this was a scam.
Dim called AFNI back and told them that we researched them and found them to be frauds. The woman on the other end claimed that if you research any debt collection agency, you're going to find people calling them frauds. So I did research other agencies and I couldn't find one negative thing about them. Interesting.
Dim and I decided that we were going to ignore this "bill" and pay it only if they actually did take us to court. Well I went to the mailbox today and found a letter from AFNI. They said that they "investigated our dispute and are closing the account."
When I was researching AFNI after we received this letter today, I had found one woman who's husband went through the same exact thing as us. Down to calling AFNI and calling them con artists and getting a letter saying they owed nothing. Apparently, AFNI is getting better at scamming people because they are using public records so the names and numbers match up. Oh and they have been known to ask for copies of driver's licenses and passports. If a creditor is asking for those things, that should tell you right there they are just trying to steal from you. AFNI didn't ask Dim for either of those things but they did ask him for his full name, address and social. He told them that they obviously know his name and address if they contacted him. As for his social, he politely told them to kiss his ass.
It's just so confusing to me since Verizon said that they give AFNI their old outstanding accounts so they must be legitimate in some way. Maybe there are people claiming to be AFNI to get money in their pockets, or maybe AFNI has a a lot of thieves working at the company. Either way, people are getting scammed left and right.
I'm really only writing this for people that Google AFNI located at 404 Brock Drive P.O. Box 3427 Bllomington, IL 61702-3427. I want these people to keep their wallets shut and let them know all they have to do is tell AFNI that they know they're cons and they will get a nice little letter saying they don't owe a dime. Do not fall for this!