On April 8, 2015, the CFPB announced that it filed a complaint against a group of individuals and companies, alleging that they engaged in a false debt collection scheme targeting consumers in Georgia and New York. After obtaining consumer information from debt brokers and other sources, the group allegedly robo-called consumers, attempting to collect on debts that they either did not own or were not owed at all. The complaint alleges that the defendants harassed consumers with robo-calls; collected or attempted to collect phantom debt; threatened legal action against consumers if they failed to pay the alleged debt; and used deceptive tactics to collect debt. The CFPB brought an action under the CFPA, including the CFPA’s Unfair, Deceptive, and Abuses Acts and Practices provision, and the FDCPA, and obtained preliminary injunctive relief barring the alleged misconduct and freezing the individual defendants’ assets.
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