Too bad, so sad…

See, even though people don’t really believe the FDCPA is an effective weapon, if you violate it, the FTC will come knowing on your door. A collection agency working on behalf of small businesses got into some big trouble (to the tune of $3.4 million!)with the FTC for representing itself to debtors as a law firm.

A collection agency operating in Florida and Georgia has been ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to cease all collection activities that run afoul of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and pay a judgment of $3.4 million to settle all FTC charges.

The FTC said in a press release Monday that a firm doing business as Rawlins & Rivera, Inc. and Ryan & Reed, Inc., both of Florida and Georgia, “used misleading dunning letters and abusive telephone calls to falsely threaten that consumers would be sued, their property seized, and their wages garnished if they did not pay the money that the defendants said they owed.” But the larger violations involved collectors representing themselves as attorneys.

And that is a no no! Coolio!

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