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Originally Posted by majik_6
It's highly possible that the company has a policy similar to the agency I used to work for.
Basically, we weren't allowed to divulge any information at all regarding the debt or the matter of the call until we verified that we were talking to the debtor or their legal spouse (but even that wasn't allowed in MA and only sometimes in PA). We could give our name, if they specifically asked the name of the company we could say, and if asked why we were calling only that it was a "personal business matter". It was aparently a legal matter that basically stated that it was a huge violation of their privacy (and the FDCPA) to state that they were in collections or had a debt until we had confirmed their identity (we had to confirm their name and address) and let them know that the call was "an attempt to collect a debt, and that all information obtained would be used for that purpose and that purpose only." If we skipped those steps, or failed to give that "disclaimer" verbatim we could be written up, fired, or even held legally liable.
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I work in Bankruptcy at a local bank. It is a federal statute that requires a collector to give that disclaimer and prohibits a collector from speaking with anyone except the debtor about the debt. However, it is also a violation of the federal statutes to refuse to identify the company name upon request, even if it is a collection call.
I agree that you should invoke the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and if that doesn't work, simply stop answering unknown numbers and I think you can report them to the federal agency that regulates collection, though offhand I can't remember which agency that is.