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matthiastrek OP t1_j20u0g4 wrote

Reply to comment by 55V35lM in Got a call from a law firm (Ngyuen-Ballato) that would not tell me why they called unless I gave them my info. Scam? by matthiastrek

yeah I don't even know if that is why they are calling me, just straight up asked for some kind of information

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55V35lM t1_j20vtt2 wrote

They seriously cannot say they are calling about a debt until they confirm they are talking to the debtor - debt collection laws and regulations want to make sure no one other than the debtor is aware of the debt. The other responses indicate that this is a known debt collector for the city so I would suspect they are legit. However, the City is known for billing errors so the debt may not be legit.

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fusion260 t1_j2295t1 wrote

Without saying it, you're essentially explaining that, if OPs curiosity gets the best of them, they then willfully provide personal verification details to a third party without any way of verifying they are authentically them and this isn't a phishing attempt for future identity theft or a scam.

OP, that's categorically a Bad Idea™.

If you feel in your gut that something felt weird about that interaction, trust your gut the first time. If they're authentic, they will provide ways to verify they are indeed who they are. Otherwise, literally anyone can say they're from any company and possibly be spoofing their number on Caller ID while doing so.

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55V35lM t1_j22i0ld wrote

Side note - verifying your address (one of the items the OP said they asked to confirm) is publicly available information. Caution is good but paranoia will leave you with robot insurance

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