UCAN

FOX NEWS: Michael Shames offers a word of caution on "green" earth friendly products: many of them aren't green at all. Full story.

Have you been receiving debt collection phone calls and messages from 800-684-8429? If so, you are not alone. A UCAN member recently filed a complaint regarding incessant phone calls and messages she had received about someone else's debt from the number 800-684-8429. The calls appear to be made on behalf of HSBC Bank, or Orchard Bank, a banking and credit provider. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, debt collectors must honor any request to cease telephone communication and contact you only in writing.

• Tell HSBC to quit calling you and Stop Debt Collection Harassment using our sample letter.

• If HSBC is calling you about a debt that you do not owe, send them a Collection Agency Debt Dispute letter.

A settlement has been proposed in a class action lawsuit against Bank of America for its alleged practice of disclosing customers' confidential information to third parties for marketing purposes. View the notice to find out if you might be affected by the settlement.

The number on your caller ID may or may not be a law firm, the IRS or your bank calling you! By using a special prepaid calling card, you can become the victim to real financial disaster if you give away any personal information requested by the caller. Watch the Good Morning America story.

There are Internet sites like www.SpoofCard.com or www.itellas.com where anyone can buy a prepaid calling card. This prepaid calling card has special features to hide the real identity of the caller. There are Federal regulations prohibiting the use of this technology by telemarketers and debt collectors. This service is also a stalker's dream and a victim's nightmare. Who else but telemarketers, debt collectors, scam artists trying to get your personal information and stalkers trying to harrass you, would need this type of service? Even though it is said that the service is for Law Enforcement, Skip Tracers, Private Investigators, etc., everyone knows that these professionals have other means to accomplish the same goal. The "Spoofer" is also able to change his/her voice to be a man or a woman and not sound like a recording. With a "Spoof" call, *69 (Call Return), *57 (Call Trace), and Anonymous Call features to typically provide you with information, do not work.

The people or companies using this service are able to send any number to your Caller ID. As a victim of identity theft, I received calls where total strangers pretended to be someone else and were demanding my date of birth, social security number, current and previous addresses and my mother's maiden name. One call came from a 512 area code and turned out to be the Secretary of State Comtroller Office for Texas to gather information for taxes. There is no state tax in Texas! Another call was a law firm in Tampa, Florida calling to collect debts on three credit cards. Again, personal information was requested including my bank account number. As a victim of ID theft, I did not take the threat of a major lawsuit or the threat of taking my home lightly. These scam artists fortunately said I owed on 3 cards that I had never used or ordered and that were already removed from my credit history as part of the ID theft.

The attempt to personally violate others is inexcusable and reflects the lowest form of human character. Now that a legislator was "spoofed", laws against the companies providing the service are being enacted. If problems had resulted for regular consumers like you and me, there is no telling how long this practice would have continued.