Third party contact

[phil973]

Hi, I have received a call from Credit Compatible saying there is a red flag against my name. Phil Aucott. They say they are a debt resolution company.
Callers name was Sam Williams, gave telephone number as 0161 5495047, but was actually calling from 0121 8178389. Website offered was www.IVAadvice
Do you provide personal information to third party companies?
Under the Freedom of Information Act please provide the information that you hold against my name.

[Foggy]

Hi Phil,

The only "IVA Advice" I can locate is a firm based in Newcastle, with a registered office in London. No idea who they are and they are not connected to us in any way.

As for information we hold about you ..... up until you registered a few hours ago we held nothing. Now we have your username and the email address you signed up with. Neither of these are shared with third parties.

You cannot make a request under the FOI Act, nor could I give you that information, if any, on an open forum --- kind of defeats the object !

I shall pass this post on to the site admin for them to action.

[phil973]

Hi Foggy
I suspect the caller was from a scam organisation.
They told me that the Debt Resolution Forum gave them my information - so from your reply that is not true.
What is IVA doing to shut down these scammers!
The guy was very convincing.

Sam Williams calling from Credit Compatible
He told me his number was 0161 5495047.
1471 revealed he was calling from 0121 8178389
He told me his company website was IVAadvice
So there are several candidates
https://www.ivaadvice.org.uk/
there is also https://www.iva-advice.co/
How is it possible to tell who is genuine?

Thanks for looking into this
Phil

[Foggy]

Looking at the first you linked to: https://www.ivaadvice.org.uk/
They are run by Guardian Insolvency, who do have an IP registered with the Insolvency Service, who is also a member of an authorising body, The IPA. So looks genuine.

The second one ... which is the one I found ... https://www.iva-advice.co/
These look like packagers -- which many IPs use as lead generators and information collectors. They do not have their own IP but pass details on to various firms on their panel.

The Debt Resolution Forum is a trade body for Insolvency Professionals --- Not sure how or why they would be passing your number on to anybody --- or why they would have it in the first place.

Sounds very much like a fishing exercise.

You ask "What is IVA doing to shut down these scammers!?" .... Are you referring to us here ? We are not a regulatory body, but a forum of people who have been in an IVA with a spattering of experts willing to give support.

[kallis3]

As Foggy says - we are just people who have been in this situation and are here, with a smattering of experts in some fields on here but we have nothing to do with any regulatory bodies.

[phil973]

Thanks for the clarification.
There does need to be a regulatory body to investigate impostors. Some can sound very convincing
If anyone knows who this kind of activity should be reported to, it would be good to know.
Thanks
Phil

As Foggy says - we are just people who have been in this situation and are here, with a smattering of experts in some fields on here but we have nothing to do with any regulatory bodies.