Nov 18, 2011
It's just a scam.
If you answer in good faith, you can get talked in to accepting responsibility for an [imaginary] debt.
If you make a payment on that [imaginary] debt, you are demonstrating that you are taking responsibility for it. In doing so, you have just accepted responsibility for the whole [imaginary] debt.
Some sleazeball makes phoney phone calls, annoying people as he practices being rude and overbearing. And if he can talk 1 timid person out of 1000 people to pay back an imaginary debt, then he can keep his heroin addiction going.
If I get a call on my cellphone that's not in my address book, I don't answer it. If it's legit, they can leave a message, and I can add them to my phone book, and then call them back. And if they ever call back again, then they're in my phone book, my caller ID will tell me exactly who they are, and I'll be happy to answer.
I got rid of my landline because the only folks using it were telemarketer scammers and collection agency scammers.
Some things need less regulation. But some things need more.