I received a notice from Afni, Inc saying that they were a collections company and that I had been referred to them for a past due bill of $147.57. The bill was for a phone number that I had never had before. The account that was past due was from a company called Verizon New York Inc.-not Verizon. I called the number listed on the notice and after being placed on hold an obnoxious rep came on the phone. He verified the last four of my SSN and the address of my parents. The bill was from 1994-when I was in college in Binghamton New York but the bill was for my parents address on Long Island. To confuse matters further the phone number was a 607 area code-which is the code for Binghamton. When I told him I didn't have a phone then and the address in question was for my parents and that the number listed wasn't their's they said they had verified it and that I could pay by cash, credit or check. I asked them who Verizon New York Inc was and they said it used to be Bell Atlantic. At that point I asked them to send documentation in writing and they said they would but that this would take it to the "next level."
There is no doubt that this is a false collection attempt. I put a fraud alert on my credit right away but I don't know how that will keep them from ruining my credit.
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