If you owe money
and collection agencies are chasing you, be aware that there is a whole new
wrinkle in the debt collection business: Social media, as in your personal
Facebook and Twitter accounts. Increasingly,
collection agencies are using these goldmines of personal information to track
down their debtors and find out everything they need to use in their efforts to
collect on a debt.
Giving It
All Away
People are increasingly aware of the privacy concerns
associated with social media platforms; you are basically giving away all of
your personal information, which can be collated and connected with other
pieces of data to create an incredibly accurate picture of your life.
Collection agencies are first using social media to
locate their debtors, which is sometimes the most difficult aspect of
collecting on a debt. They are even
creating fake Facebook profiles and friending their targets in order to monitor
their activities and location. Many
people are not aware of how much information they make available on social
media.
One of the most common strategies for collection
agencies and collection lawyers is to watch for inconsistencies when a debtor
has claimed they lack the funds to pay their debt and yet posts in public about
spending money on shopping, vacations, or other big-ticket purchases. When they catch someone in this sort of lies,
a lawsuit is almost certain to follow – and they already have the evidence they
need.
The Rules
Still Apply
However, there are limits to what collection agencies
can do on social media. For example,
they are not allowed to harass debtors or publicly post their debts or demands
that they pay their debts. Most of the
rules that apply to phone interaction also apply to social media, although the
laws are in dire need of updating to reflect the new social media reality.
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