In May I had been receiving several messages on my answering machine from two different individuals asking me to contact them about an urgent matter and leaving the CAMCO call back number (877) 298-0845 with two different extensions.
Because I get home late from work, I was unable to get back to them.instead an after-hours answering service operator provided me with the name of the company. That's when I decided to look them up on the web and came across this page.
After reading only a few postings and news of the FTC fine, I became aware of what I may have to deal with. I ended up contacting Mr Chandler at extension 2079 to find out the nature of his call.
Initially, he was polite and after looking up my home phone number informed me that I owed an unspecified amount to a Levitz business. When I told him that I had never done business with that company, he asked me to think "really hard" and try to recall a past debt that I may have overlooked.
When I reiterated my statement, he then began to change his tone with me and raising his voice. When I asked for more information of the debt, he told me that there was no use wasting his time and was going to forward my information to the proper authorities.
Two days later, I received a letter from CAMCO listing CITIBANK as the original debtor (NOT Levitz) with a balance of $5,308.28 and "a most generous settlement offer of $1,850.00." Fortunately, the letter listed an account number. When I called Citibank, I was told that the account had been sold to Chase and was provided a contact number. Chase on the other hand, had no information on the account and could not find any record of me owing them anything.
A review of 2001 and 2004 credit reports from all three credit reporting agencies failed to show the Citibank account number. As a precautionary measure, I reported to the credit agencies that I have become a identity theft victim and requested that an identity theft alert be placed on all my credit files.
Additionally, I have reported the incident to the FTC. I was then informed to reply to CAMCO within 30 days with a certified Cease and Desist letter requiring return receipt.
I often check back on this website to get further information on the scams that CAMCO is perpetuating. Recently, I came across one posted that indicated that the State Attorney General in my state of California had, a few months ago, posted a warning on CAMCO's practices. I have since then reported the matter to the California State Attorney General.
Today, I came home to a phone message from yet another CAMCO employee. Fortunately, I came across a past posting providing the Illinois Attorney General's Office phone number: (312) 814-3000, which I will definitely contact by Monday.
Anyone who feels they have been wronged by CAMCO should not only take the initiative to draw comfort from our shared experiences; but, also take the steps to make as many reports as possible to authorities, including the FTC and state attorney generals. Hopefully, the authorities will take notice and do more than simply fine sCAMCO again.
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