Midland Credit Management, Inc "Pre-Legal" Notification of attempt to collect supposed outstanding debt Los Angeles CA

Thank you for your comments. 

I didn't open the envelope, nor did I think the objective was to get money from the current neighbors.  Only the former neighbor.  There wouldn't have been any issue with the agent letting me know there was actually an account as long as he didn't share any other information.  He initially asked me the account number.  I said I didn't have it as I had not opened the envelope since it wasn't mine.  Hence, I tried to find more information on the company from the return address, which is how I found this site.

I've worked with the Postal Inspectors before when fraudulent money orders had been sent for "overpayment" of an item.  They were limited on what they could do if the sender sent it through a carrier other than the USPS.  So, that's why I said what I did, based on my personal experience.  Thank you for the clarification.

It just seemed to be unusual for anything to be sent to someone who hasn't lived there for at least a decade. Yes, I know they won't pay anything close to retail for their mailings, but I'm sure it's more than a few pennies' investment to try to get in touch with someone.

Oh, I just did an online search, and had no problems locating her.  Then again, I know what she looks like!  I'll let the company find her themselves.  Thank you again.

This is a collection agency, their job is to COLLECT a bad debt. The letter was not even addressed to the neighbors, so how in the world would it be used to scam them out of money? You talk about mail fraud laws. What about the laws about opening mail that is not addressed to you? So hopefully you didn't open it.

Perhaps you should take a look at the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act(FDCPA). Those are specific laws that limit what information can be shared about a person's debt without their permission. In case you wonder what that limit is...the answer is ZERO. This is why they stressed that they needed the letter back, because you have NO legal right to view it. In fact I wouldn't be shocked if the reason they couldn't "find" that name is because you were not that person and they were afraid of divulging too much info.

Don't get me wrong, it is good that you are watching out for your neighbor, and many Collection Agenices skirt the law and are often less than honest. Many will send out letters to all previously known addresses in the hope of finding them. So in that respect it is "phishing", but not to steal their identity..instead to get them to pay their debts. But there is actually nothing illegal about this, and nothing that should have indicated to your neighboors that they owe any money.

This debt was probably bought for pennies on the dollar, in the hope they get something. Oh and the price you saw was the "retail" shipping cost. I can guarantee you that they did not pay anything close to $70 to send that letter.