Collection Scam

[jfvanells]

I have two collection agency sending me letters about an alledge PayPal debt of $300.00. IC System from Minnesota and ACI out of Boerne, Texas. I have never used my PayPal account except when it is hooked to my bank account. I tried to email PayPla and they sent me a lengthy email of dispute resolution all of which want a date of purchase and the invoice from them. But they never sent me one and according to their website I owe nothing. You would think they would want to take care of this rater than making their customers jump through hoops.

[angela511]

This is not necessarily a scam.  Someone opened a PayPal account in my name using a different email address but used someone else's bank account information.  That person's bank account was closed due to identity theft and the bank requested the money back from PayPal.  That's what generates the negative balance.  It's a pain in the neck, but this happens all the time.   It's the world in which we live.  

PayPal uses third party companies like ACI to collect their debts.  So, first call ACI (or whatever third party it is) and find out what email address is tied to the account. Verify all other information on the account.  Make a note of everything.  Tell them it is not you and it is a fraudulent account.  They will note the account and send it back to PayPal.  Call PayPal's collection department <removed> and tell them the same.  Give them the email address given to you by the collection agency; otherwise, they can't pull up the account.  Make sure you request that any fraudulent account be closed immediatley.

Follow up, as another poster suggested, with a certified letter to the collection agency and to PayPal.  There is a nice form letter on Indentitytheft.gov you can use.  Get your credit report from all 3 reporting agencies to be sure there is no other activity.

[cruisersk1]

This company ACI, or American Coradius International IS a Paypal collection agency. If you know you owe the money this is a safe way to pay it. ALSO, paypal does NOT report to the credit companies so you can pay the "offer" for payment in full and you dont have to worry about it showing on your credit as paid in full for less than the amount owed which still hurts your credit. So, in a nutshell, if you owe the money you can trust this company and can pay the offer amount. I got all of this info from Paypal itself.

[Juliiesimiller]

After a Google search I'm glad I saw this forum. $6,550.00 is what American Coradius Intl. says is owed. The strange thing is, my address is on the letter, but it's headed to some random business ("Elope San Diego"....?). And the creditor is PayPal (Europe). Weird!!

[4342egan]

I also received a bogus bill from American Coradius International.  I immediately called Syncrony Bank and PayPal and was assurred that I was in good account.  Neither bank asked me who sent the "overdue notice" nor cared about its origin.  They are unconcerned with their customers getting phony bills in their name. 

[godivagirl57]

I just received the same letter from ACI (American Coradius International), saying they're trying to collect $108.  My name and address are correct on the letter, but this is NOT my account.  I called PP and found out that the email address that the account was opened with is totally incorrect and the phone number the account was opened with is incorrect.  I also found out that it was a 'business' that opened the account (I'm thinking like an ebay seller, who sold something, withdrew the money,  then ebay refunded the money to the buyer, leaving a negative balanceon the account).  Oh, also the social security number was totally different and I'm sure it was phony.  Paypal asked me to call them back in a couple of days to learn the outcome of the claim.  I pressed the CSR at PPal about how obviously easy it must be to open a PPal card and they agreed.  This must happen all the time.

[Resident]

These companies have been doing this for a while.  I check my report frequently and though Convergent Outsourcing Inc, says that I owe monies to paypal that is in collection, it has NEVER been on my report.

Thats number one sign of fraud.

Secondly when I was finally tired of all the letters etc from them what I did was contact the Cosumer complaint division.

This is the link.  http://www.consumerfinance.gov/

I filed a complaint with them, and guess what,  they replied rather quickly.   This was there response.

Convergent Outsourcing only collects balances placed in our office by our clients.  We do not attempt to scam consumers.  We have stopped collection efforts and will forward a copy of this complaint and our response to our client. 

In response to this communication, Convergent Outsourcing has closed this account in our office and returned it to our client, Paypal Inc.  If you have any further inquiries please contact Paypal's customer support at <removed> and reference the Paypal account number above.

Respectfully 

Mattie Gann-Harris

Compliance Representative

What seems strange to me is that one message to the Bureau of Consumer Financial  Protection and they shut the whole case down.  Im sure they believe they dont scam people.  If you do something long enough you surely will believe your doing the right thing.  

Convergent Outsourcing is a disease that needs to be eliminated.  

I have also filed a complaint with my Attorney Generals office as well.   We will see how that goes.  

Dont hesitate to do anything, take action on these crooks.  The more complaints they receive on their site, the more they believe there is an issue and they will go into full investigation of the company.  Its the only way to stop these fools..

[jkc32]

Thank you for posting this information. I also received a letter from Convergent asking for monies that I do not owe. I just filed my complain with government agency you suggested since it seems you received an adequate response. I hope to receive a good outcome as well. Again, thanks.

[ShufflezMcGee]

The same thing happened to me, I got a letter in mail claiming that I owed 130.00 USD and I called their tll free number and asked who the bill was for and they listed the names of my family members (some of which have never used paypal) that have supposedly used my account and they said my son was the person who made a transaction.

[ltedgart]

I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of a phone call with American Coradius International.  They immediately recognized the debt ($88 in this case) as fraudulant and stated that they would notify PayPal and that I am not responsible for any of it. 

I would classify this as identity theft/fraud not a collections scam. I look forward to hearing from PayPal about the matter.

[Brian_2]

I too recieved a collection notice fron ACI in the amount of $8,394.87 ...incerdible !  I called them and disputed this charge as I have my bank account linked and pay cash for all of my small purchases.  It seems that someone got my SSN and opened an account under a bogus email ...  ACI gave me the email address and I have never heard of it. In fact, the domain name does not exist. I opened my PayPal account and took screen shots of my purchases and account balance ( 0.00 ) and saved them in case I have to take this to court...which I will if pressed.  I then contacted the PayPal fraud line. The person there ( who will not be named) was quite helpful and even gave me the address from where the bogus account originated. Very helpful as I just happen to be going that direction in a few weeks. It will be nice to drop in and see what they bought under my name!  Long story short..... I will file a police report in the morning, and file a complaint with the State Attorney General's office, the Federal Consumer Rights Division...and refer this whole mess to a group of attorneys that I know.  BTW they love filing class action suits....just saying.  So PayPal , when you get the invoice for my time spent on this BS and the stress... you might consider actually paying it. You have  exacerbated my condition(s).  I also sugest that you reign in your automated account bots... unless of course you can hemmorage monry like this.  Next time a crook opens an account with my identitiy ....call me first please.  All said and done PayPal is a wonderful tool.  A great boost to E-commerce. We neeed you..just please watch out for your customer base.  Thank You.