My dad received a phone call today that raised a lot of red flags, and I'm curious if anyone here has experienced something similar.
My dad lived in New York for about 65 years before moving to Pennsylvania, and he still has a New York area code. Today he received a call from a NY number from a company claiming to be "Global Financial Services." The caller told him that a debt collector was pursuing legal action against him for an alleged Capital One credit card debt originally through Household Bank for the amount of $3,000, and that a complaint was being filed and a judgment would be imposed regarding an account that was supposedly closed in 2023.
A few things that stood out immediately:
- The call began with "this call is being monitored and recorded."
- The caller addressed my dad by his first name.
- They confirmed the last four digits of his Social Security number.
- They knew his current address.
- They also knew my name (his son) and claimed they had been emailing me.
One thing that made it feel more believable (and honestly more unsettling) is that the caller spoke completely fluent English with no noticeable accent. Most scam calls we've received in the past were clearly from overseas call centers with strong accents, so this sounded very different and more convincing.
After the call, my dad and I called the number back together.
When they answered, they said "Legal Services." I asked who they actually were, and they said they were a legal services team that mediates between debt collectors and consumers to help reach a settlement.
My dad asked them to provide proof of the debt, and the woman immediately got defensive and said that wasn't her responsibility and that she was "just trying to help." When my dad said he doesn't owe any debt and won't pay anything until it's proven legitimate, she started warning him about legal repercussions and pushed him to sign a contract with their agency so they could set up a payment plan.
The conversation went back and forth for a bit, and she eventually accused my dad of "threatening" her (he wasn't) and said she was terminating the call until he learns to be respectful and polite.
Another strange detail: they claimed they had been emailing me, but the email address they mentioned was through "Starlink," which I do not have and have never used.
My dad is pretty freaked out because they had the last four of his Social Security number, his current address, and knew my name. That makes it feel more legitimate, but the refusal to provide proof of the debt and the pressure to sign something immediately felt like major red flags.
Has anyone experienced something like this before? Is this a known debt collection scam, or something similar others have dealt with?