Has "Steve at CBCS" called you?

Have you found a message on your answering machine with the following words?

Hello, this is Steve. I'm calling from CBCS. Please return my call. You can reach me toll-free at 1-800-498-2223. This is important. This is not a telemarketing call. Again, the number is 1-800-498-2223.

If you value your peace of mind, don't return that call, no matter how many such messages you get.

I assume, and have some evidence to believe, that this caller has been doing the same with many other people. I'm aware that such people tend to threaten lawsuits in order to intimidate people into silence, so I will carefully distinguish between what I know as fact and what I infer.

Fact: On numerous occasions, the message quoted above has been left on my answering machine. While I haven't been keeping count, I think I've received about twenty such messages as of May 30, 2005. The message does not identify me and does not state the purpose of the call. The number may have been different in some of the calls.

Fact: On most of the occasions on which I have called the above number, I have reached a phonebot. After asking for a language preference, it asks for the phone number from which I am calling "to begin servicing your account." I have no account with any business called CBCS. I've entered a variety of fake but plausible phone numbers, never my real one. It then asks, "to help verify your account," for the last four digits of my Social Security number. Again, I've entered an assortment of random four-digit numbers. Whatever I enter, the bot then tells me, "We're sorry you are having trouble, and our office is closed," then advises me to call during "normal business hours," which supposedly extend until 10 PM. Most of my calls have been during this time period, but only on one occasion did I reach a live human. That person adamantly refused to explain the purpose of the call unless I would first give identifying information about myself, which I refused to do.

Conjecture: No legitimate caller has an excuse for acting as "Steve" does. A legitimate telemarketer would not flatly deny being a telemarketer. A legitimate debt collection agency (as will be seen below, CBCS may be posing as one) would identify the person being called and state the purpose of its call. Asking for even part of a person's Social Security number without first giving any reason suggests a fraudulent purpose.

Fact: My credit rating is good, and no collection agency identifying itself as such has ever come after me except for an unpaid parking ticket over 25 years ago. I don't recall ever having received any other kind of contact from a "CBCS" or dealing with a company by that name.

Fact: My web searches have turned up several reports on dubious activities by a "CBCS." Some of these follow:

BellSouth and CBCS Collections: "I contacted CBCS and explained to them that this was bogus, and that BellSouth has no record of me, but CBCS REFUSED to verify this bogus debt with BellSouth and basically accused me of being a liar..."
CBCS Columbus fraudulent billing unverified debt: In mid-2003, I saw something from Bell South show up on my credit report for an outstanding amount of 81.14. The strange this is I never had service with Bell South. The collection agency for this ordeal is CBCS."
~~Proving or risking your identity?~~: "You hear a lot about identity theft and that's what came to mind." No doubt. So we contacted Verizon to ask them about CBCS's disturbing request. They sent this e-mail agreeing, the CBCS request was "very suspect."
Collection agency ripoff: "They have called several times including tonight. The first caller, a female, yelled the entire time in order to coerce a payment. I stated that no money was owed and to check with MCI. She stated that I owed them and MCI had nothing to do with it."
CBCS (added June 2006, URL updated June 2007): "I start asking him questions... 'Who are you?' He merely replies 'We are CBCS.' I said... 'ooooook well who might that be?' He responds 'We take care of different things.' After that he promptly he hung up."

Conjecture: Taken together, these suggest that the caller may be running a racket of inventing phone company debts and trying to intimidate people into paying them.

More conjectures and a request: My own range of possible actions is limited. I strongly suspect a pattern of fraud, but have only second-hand information from people I don't know. "Steve's" purpose does not appear legitimate, but I don't have a case which I can bring before a government agency. All I have is recorded messages asking me to return a call. If I provided "Steve" with enough information, he might present a fraudulent claim against me which I could use as evidence, but I don't care to expose myself to harassment in that way. For the present, the most useful thing I can do is put up this page as a record of my experiences and suspicions. If you think that people should see this information, please link to this page.

Advice: Whether or not the "Steve at CBCS" calls are fraudulent, there are certain rules you should follow to avoid exposing yourself to identity theft and harassment.

Don't give your Social Security number to anyone without a legitimate reason. Don't give even part of it to a stranger whose purpose you don't know.
Regard messages on your answering machine from people whom you don't know, but who want information about you, with extreme suspicion. Don't give any sensitive information to such people. Get verification that they are who they claim to be.
Don't just roll over and pay if a stranger asserts you owe something. That's just an invitation to more extortion.

Update, August 23, 2005: The calls stopped coming in July, for reasons I don't know. I've received a number of pieces of email about this. One person thinks it was someone impersonating the real CBCS, which is a bona fide collection agency. Some have said that federal laws prevent collection agencies from saying what their purpose is or whom they're trying to reach, in effect forcing them to sound like identity phishers. This sounds strange, but I can't discount it. In any case, I'm reasonably sure there's no federal law requiring anyone to use phonebots, as this caller did, to contact people. I still consider it a safe assumption that a prerecorded message which doesn't identify the recipient comes from someone doing mass dialing in the hope of getting some calls returned -- and that there's no reason to respond.

Update, August 10, 2006: According to some emails I've received, the person in the message sometimes calls himself Chad.

This link, which doesn't specifically mention CBCS but discusses extortion by debt collection agencies, was mentioned to me in an email.

Update, February 10, 2008: "Steve" has reportedly reached new depths of sleaziness, claiming that failing to be at home and answer the call constitutes acknowledgement of the debt.

Original post May 30, 2005. Last updated February 10, 2008.

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