Last week I had the great opportunity of being a part of a radio show with students from Cleveland High School here in Portland. The topic of conversation was bullies, from school yard bullies to now anonymous internet bullying. All of it bears great consequences to teen psyches, but does the threat of bullying ever go away?

Ironically, right before I left to do the interview, I received a call from a debt collector, verbally harassing me for a debt that wasn’t even mine. He went as far as calling me a liar. I was lying about my own identity and innocence. Look, even in the highest laws of the land, we are innocent until proven guilty, but not in regards debt collecting. They see it the other way around. What proof did this guy have of my debt, my name and my telephone number given to him by some chick’s ex-husband? Hum, let’s see; the dude probably was covering for his ex-wife giving debt collectors a phony number, or the guy assumed I was her. Other than that, the debt collector had nothing, but that did not stop him from verbally harassing me in the privacy of my own home.

In giving thought to this subject, high school, internet and adult bullying I have come to a conclusion that we are a society that preys on the victim; somehow we rationalize the victim deserves what they get. A teenage victim of bullying may be overweight, shy, awkward or even just different. Does that mean they deserved to be bullied? What about the victim of rape? Did she deserve it because she may have dressed provocatively? What about the gay man? Did he deserve to be beaten up because he was different? What about the Arab detainees? Do they deserve to be tortured because we fear their differences? And what about the debtor, do they deserve verbal abuse, harassed and threatened of house and home for a debt a collector cannot sometimes prove?

Taking in consideration our former administration’s mission to torture, they tortured prisoners hoping to give our government rationalization for a war they started without just cause. They wanted to offer proof to the American public by torturing false confessions. This is exactly the tactic used by many debt collectors. In most recent attempts with myself and friends, a debt collector used an abusive tactic to collect money, whether verbal accusations, jury summons, threats to garnish wages and in some cases jail time. They used threatening tactics in order to get us to pay. They believe, the ends justify the means, and if they have to verbally abuse and attack, then so be it.

In several of these occasions, no money was due, the debt was either settle years ago, or they just have inaccurate information. But you see debt collectors don’t really care if you owe money, all they care about is if you pay. They don’t care if the right person pays the money due, as long as they get the money, and they get paid for collecting. It is merely resorting to scare tactics, cheap threats and bullying to extort money from innocent people-this to me is criminal and should be a crime.

Although it is not a crime, these abusive tactics are illegal and many Americans may be due compensation for unlawful harassment. If you feel, you have been harassed by a debt collector, whether or not you owed money. Please refer to the following information-888 FDCPA LAW (888-332-7252) TOLL FREE, www.FairDebtForConsumers.com, www.AttorneysForConsumers.com. You may find out you have a claim and the debt collector might have to pay you! Stand up for yourself and those around you. Let’s say no to bullies.