Pa. Complaint Alleges Verizon Tried to Collect a Debt Using ‘False, Deceptive’ Means

Verizon and debt collector McCarthy, Burgess & Wolff (MB&W) violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act when they acted in a “false, deceptive, misleading and unfair manner” to collect a $708 debt, alleged plaintiff Albert Tran’s complaint Wednesday (docket 2:24-cv-02446) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Tran transferred the wireless services for his existing cellphones from AT&T to Verizon in April 2023 to take advantage of Verizon’s promotional offer for a free phone, said the complaint. During the activation process, a Verizon employee created an additional account in the Philadelphia resident’s name without his knowledge or consent, it said. The carrier then began “erroneously engaging in collection activities” for that additional account, it said. Verizon “further amplified” its collection activities by engaging MB&W to send Tran dunning emails to collect the debt, it said. The activities were all done by Verizon and MB&W in an attempt to collect the debt “with the intent to annoy, abuse and harass” Tran, said the complaint. Verizon and MB&W knew or should have known that their actions violated the two federal statutes, it said. Both could have taken the steps necessary to bring their agents’ actions within compliance, “but neglected to do so and failed to adequately review those actions to ensure compliance with said laws,” it said.