Afni fraudulent collection case closed ripoff Bloomington Illinois

Like many people here, my husband received a collection letter concerning a Verizon account he never had. We sent a dispute letter to Afni stating that he had never had a Verizon account and they replied asking for a copy of his drivers license, his passport, and his home phone number, among other information. I looked through the tips on this website and others, composed the following letter and sent it certified mail, return receipt requested. Feel free to copy it if you feel it would be useful in your own situation.

To whom it may concern:

I'm writing to continue the dispute of the validity of this debt and demand that you cease and desist collection action. You may not contact me by phone.

I am requesting (and under the FDCPA you are required to send) the debt validation, the signed contract that created this bill, and the full account history and itemization of charges. I also need proof that you are legally entitled to collect on the alleged debt and licensed in my state to do debt collections. Furthermore, if you own the debt, I need to see the purchase contract, proof of payment, and full chain of title. Lastly, I would like to see proof that this alleged debt is not out of statute.

If you cannot provide the above requested information within 30 days of your receipt of this letter, I will contact the Illinois Better Business Bureau, the Illinois State Attorney General, the Ohio State Attorney General, the FTC, and the FBI regarding this matter.

Thank you,

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I got the following letter in response:

This letter is to inform you that we have investigated your dispute related to the referenced account. Based on the investigation this account has been closed. Afni, Inc. will take no further collection action.

In addition, if this account has been subject to credit reporting, the credit reporting agencies will be directed to remove this account from your credit report. Please note it may take up to 60 days for the account to be removed from your record at all of the credit reporting agencies. In the itnerim, you may use this letter as a notice regarding the status of the account.

We apologize for the inconvenience this situation may have caused.

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It's nice not to be hounded for money we don't owe, but I fully intend to educate others about this scam. I've contacted my local news and hope to hear back from them sometime next week. I wish everyone here the best of luck in dealing with these predators and thank everyone here for their suggestions, knowledge, and advice.

Elaine
Columbus, Ohio
U.S.A.