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Debt collectors using Facebook to track debtors
Wednesday 13th May 2009Debt collectors in the US have adopted a new, aggressive tactic for targeting people that owe them money: adding them as friends as Facebook.
Various indebted Americans have reported that employees from debt collection agencies have posed as students or attractive women on Facebook and added them as friends in an attempt to recover any cash owed to them.
While some consumer experts question the legality of this latest debt collection strategy, many see it as a sign of things to come and have warned that the trend could soon arrive in the UK.
As the economic downturn worsens and borrowers find themselves struggling with their finances, a growing number of lenders and banks are selling debts onto debt collection agencies to chase.
Debt collectors have been warned by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for using intimidating and aggressive techniques in order to recover money, such as making empty threats, frightening vulnerable people and harassing the neighbours of debtors.
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