Dealing with a Scam/Not Scam

Jules

SF VIP
In the fall we received a letter saying we owed for parking in a lot in Vancouver. First, we were never there and second it was the license plate number of a car we sold 8 years ago. DH researched the company and there were a lot negative online reports. He tried calling and they never picked up and there was no option to leave a message. When a car is sold here, the license plate is destroyed unless you want to put it on your new car, which we didn’t.

He decided it was a scam and we should just ignore it. More letters came and then from a collection agency that they owned. I don’t know how they got my cell phone number. This should not have been part of the BC auto license system, but who knows. I don’t answer phone numbers with no names attached. Sometimes there was a garbled message to call them. Fat chance; no message, no call.

Then they started sending texts to have me call the Collection Agency. Again, no message.

Finally we got some help from an insurance agent and reported it to the police, who opened a file. Basically, they’re not interested. Nothing would come of it; it’s too low priority. If someone else reports this company, they would be flagged in the system. We’re going to report it to the credit monitoring companies, so it doesn’t show up on our files. Even that’s not simple.

Online reports suggested this company goes after people who have a difficult time proving they weren’t there or that they really paid. Many give up and just pay to get rid of them or are in fear of a bad credit rating. It feels like this company is running a low level scam.
 

In the fall we received a letter saying we owed for parking in a lot in Vancouver. First, we were never there and second it was the license plate number of a car we sold 8 years ago. DH researched the company and there were a lot negative online reports. He tried calling and they never picked up and there was no option to leave a message. When a car is sold here, the license plate is destroyed unless you want to put it on your new car, which we didn’t.

He decided it was a scam and we should just ignore it. More letters came and then from a collection agency that they owned. I don’t know how they got my cell phone number. This should not have been part of the BC auto license system, but who knows. I don’t answer phone numbers with no names attached. Sometimes there was a garbled message to call them. Fat chance; no message, no call.

Then they started sending texts to have me call the Collection Agency. Again, no message.

Finally we got some help from an insurance agent and reported it to the police, who opened a file. Basically, they’re not interested. Nothing would come of it; it’s too low priority. If someone else reports this company, they would be flagged in the system. We’re going to report it to the credit monitoring companies, so it doesn’t show up on our files. Even that’s not simple.

Online reports suggested this company goes after people who have a difficult time proving they weren’t there or that they really paid. Many give up and just pay to get rid of them or are in fear of a bad credit rating. It feels like this company is running a low level scam.
Stick to your guns. I understand it's a PITA, but I hate to see them get you.
Good luck Jules!
 

Years ago, a woman managed to scam at least 3 new cars off GM dealers lots. ( I'm quite sure she got cars from other dealers.) She gave a fake name, she had several aliases, fake address, fake everything, EXCEPT she used my telephone number., three times. GMAC bugged the hell out of me. So, I understand how infuriating this is.
I'm a Merkin, so I don't know about Canada, but don't you have a Canadian Better Business Bureau, or it's equivalent. I found links to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
 
It's too bad you have to go through this Jules! I hope it doesn't negatively impact your credit and I sure hope you are not hounded by a collection agency.
 
The issue isn’t huge and likely won’t affect the credit rating for either of us. The issue can be on your estate, if something like this hangs on. I’d hate to have the family clearing up this. Sure they could pay, after the lawyers nickel and dime them.

@Nathan, the BBB really has no teeth here. We checked them out. We’ll go through the steps needed.

In the scheme of scams, this is nothing, nothing but a nuisance. I hate thinking of companies that pick on people, probably knowing that we’re seniors.
 


Back
Top