State Order Follows CBS11 I-Team Investigation
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DALLAS (CBS11 I-TEAM) - A company collecting money from North Texans is getting orders to stop doing business in its home state of Nevada. Following our report, we've learned federal and state authorizes are taking action.
The State of Nevada filed a cease and desist order against Collect Pros, LLC.
Collect Pros has been sending out collection notices marked "urgent" to people all over the country.
Val Bonney is sales a manager here at CBS 11. "I thought how many people have just said, 'Oh, it's 34 dollars. I'll just write a check just to be sure.' "
Bonney and hundreds of other people are complaining saying they've never heard of this company and do not owe.
The I-Team learned Collect Pros appears to be in Nevada, but may have ties to an island in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Customers with questions have been asked to contact Collect Pros, but for weeks we had trouble getting anyone to come to talk to us.
Last week, the I-Team did finally talk to a manager. He told us the company is a "third party collection agency" and the letters "present legitimate debts."
He wanted customers like Bonney who disputed the claim to contact him. But now, Nevada state authorizes have contacted Collect Pros.
The order states Collect Pros "has never been licensed as a collection agency." It says the payments represent "intentional violations of the law."
"That makes me feel like there is a certain amount of satisfaction from bringing it forward, because how many times do you get things like this and you don't think anything about it or you throw it away?" says Bonney.
Collect Pros sent a statement saying, "Collect Pros has no comment regarding pending legal matters at this time."
The company has 30 days to respond to the state of Nevada.
State authorities there tell us the Federal Trade Commission is also investigating.
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