Buffalo Debt Collector Arrested for Identity Theft
Other than buying bowling supplies and porn Web site access, a Buffalo collector didn't think charging items on another person's account was inappropriate...tisk tisk to thievery.
A debt collector in Buffalo, N.Y. was taken into custody last week by police after running up nearly $2,000 in charges on a bank account that was used to clear up a debt collection case he had been working.
Antonio R. Speed, a collector at Graham & Noble Associates, was trying to collect a $399 Shell gas card debt from one Mary Reynolds. He convinced Reynolds to settle for a lesser amount and she gave him a debit card number to make the payment. Speed then went on a spending spree on the account that ended with his arrest.
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Speed ran up the charges on bowling supplies purchased over the Internet, prepaid charge cards, paid pornography Web sites, and he even made a car insurance payment using Reynolds’ account.
Buffalo police say that Graham & Noble aided in the investigation, according to The Buffalo News.
Repeated attempts by insideARM to contact the collection agency were unsuccessful.
But Graham & Noble owner Omar Smith told The Buffalo News that this was the work of one “rogue” collector. “Once we discovered this was a rogue collector, we were going to do everything to help the consumer,” he told the paper, adding that even after all of this happened, Speed called the agency a couple days ago, “asking about his paycheck.”
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Comments
Comment from Michelle Dunn on October 7, 2008 at 7:22AM EST
This is exactly why we need to be sure we screen and overlook bill collectors we hire. These types of situations contribute to the bad name the debt collection industry has. One or two bad "eggs" are what makes the news, you don't hear about the collectors who are honest and helping debtors each day.
Comment from Bradley Shropshire on October 7, 2008 at 11:27AM EST
Bud Hibbs is going to have field day with this. I'm sure he'll fail to mention that every other employee at the company are fine, hard working people.
Comment from Anonymous on October 7, 2008 at 5:08PM EST
agencies should screen applicants accordingly but rather than invest the time & money into drug testing and criminal backroung checks they hire any warm body to fill seats & collect on the out of stat junk debt that they buy for next to nothing its no secret that the buffalo,ny region is economically distressed and collections agencies are just about on every street corner