I had this company call me and this woman asked me for my SSN number. I asked who was calling and for what reason. She was like maaaammm I need your SSN. I asked again who she was and she got snappy with me saying she can't tell me anything till I give her my SSN. I said I wasn't giving it to her and she continued to ask. Again I refused and she finally got mad and hung up on me. I looked at the caller id and googled the name to find out it was a collection agency. So I checked my credit report and it was all fine! So I knew she was scamming me to get my SSN! Don't ever give out your SSN number to anyone over the phone unless you know 100% who it is! Needless to say they didn't trick me and they still keep calling but we don't answer. I have been reading other stories online about West Assets Mgt. trying to scam other ppl as well. Guess I am not the only one!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I work for WAM, they aren't scamming you or trying to steal SSN, they asked for the last four of your social, and they already have that information. Its FDCPA policy that you have to verify you are speaking to the correct party, you can verify with DOB, address, or the last four of your SSN. If that individual did ask for your entire SSN then that individual is completely responsible for his/her own actions, and that is not company policy, and frankly illegal. If a manager heard them do that, they would be fired on the spot. Maybe they didn't work for WAM at all, and they where just fishing for socials. Collection agencies aren't scammers, they are very strictly monitored by the government, and we have to follow an incredible amount of laws and regulations to legally collect debts.
I also had a incident with these people calling me 3 to 4 times a day. I did not answer the phone calls, until I finally got fed up with them calling. The lady asked me for verification of my name, address, and social security number. When I asked who they were she said west asset management, and then when I asked what this phone call was about, she replied that she could not give me any information unless I provided her with my socia security number. I told her that I was not comfortable with doing so, and she told me to go online and check them out...so I did. And lo and behold I found out that they were scammers, liers and cheats. So with that being said I will no longer be taking their phone calls. If for any reason I owe a bill, they should do it the old fashion way by sending it through the mail.
You are right SCAM!
WAM may not be a scam however, their tactics for collecting outstanding debt should be carefully looked into. I work as an arbitrator for customers who would like to take care of their debts but, have fallen on hard times. For the most part, the collection agencies that I have worked with have been above board except for, you guessed it, WAM. I have contacted their parent company and was informed that they quite often sell large numbers of names (along w/ssn, etc) to other companies for collection. I have found that some of these companies are scammers! Once they get into your bank account you have lost the battle as WAM can not be held accountable. Please be careful and ask anyone who calls your home to send all information to you in writing. You should not be put in a position where you have to defend yourself and it is perfectly okay not to give your personal information to the caller... afterall, they called you, you didn't call them.
My husband received many calls for them. Since he was never home at that time, I answered and they would not talk with me. The calls kept coming, so I ignored them. Finally they stopped for a month or so. Then I received a bill in the mail telling me that I was overdue on my CenturyLink (Qwest) account. (We had canceled our service back in June and in fact had a credit with them and got a check from them in the mail.) So I called CenturyLink to verify that indeed I didn't owe them money. They said that the account was closed and showed a zero balance and they reminded me that I had a credit with them and they sent out a check for it. CenturyLink also told me NOT to pay West Asset Management. The bill from West Asset Management is a total lie!
FYI West Asset management is now also going by GLOBAL RECEIVABLES SOLUTIONS! SCAM ALL DAY I DON'T CARE WHAT THEY TELL YOU, DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR SSN, EVEN THE LAST 4 DIGITS! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!