American Coradius International Collection Scam?

[Zapaeryan]

I recently received a letter from a company called <Removed>  in regards to a $510 overdraft I have on an old paypal account. I found this very strange, as I had previously been informed by a paypal representative through a phone call that they wouldn't pursue a debt collector and that the debt wouldn't affect my credit score. The letter says that I have 30 days to pay off this debt or it will be put permanently on my record, and tells me to pay it through a site called <Removed>. I found it weird that it wasn't asking me to do this through paypal in any capacity, and upon further investigation, I'm starting to believe that this is a scam. here are a few reasons why:

Firstly, the site <Removed> isn't the site of ACI; it's <Removed>. That site even has it's own section to arrange payment.

Secondly, the letter claims that the company is based in Amherst, New York, but the letter seemed to have been sent from Boerne, Texas. I've encountered scams before and one of the textbook signs of them being fish is inconsistencies with addresses. That puts this letter under suspect.

In addition, there have been numerous forum posts on here mentioning letters like these seemingly from the same source with the same site attached, and most of them point to this as being part of the same scam. I'm starting to believe that's the case here as well, but since those posts also confirmed that <Removed> IS PayPals collection agency, I don't want to ignore this only for it to actually be legit.

Is there any way I can confirm that the letter I received is legitimate? Who should I contact to find out what I should do going forward? Because this whole thing is incredibly fishy, especially the fact that they don't want any of this to be done through paypal and that it doesn't mention anything about the debt or my account apart from the value of the overdraft, but I want to be 100% certain that this is a scam before I ignore it to avoid potentially serious consequences of being incorrect.

[NorCal21]

Thanks so much to the folks that have posted - I just got one of these letters too, and was pretty sure it was impossible.  I downloaded all my paypal transactions the past 18 months just to check and just don't see anything that matches up.  If you go to the web address requested, they want the letter reference number and last four of your social - that's a dead giveaway too. I'll just put this in the shredder.

[4GBTosh]

I got a letter from ACI as well:

Flag #1 - I've never used PayPal Credit (that's different from linking your external credit card to pay for Paypal purchases)

Flag #2 - my old name was used 

Flag #3 - the website that they give to pay the bill immediately redirects itself to another website which is clearly a way to scam/fraud unsuspecting users.

I strongly suggest you do not pay in any way, online or sending a check and check your credit reports just in case (freezing your credit is also a good idea, to prevent fraud). I promptly ignored this fraud. 

[Bvax]

Yes. This HAS to be a scam. I got a letter saying I owed $478.00 on my PayPal card account except only one thing. I never had a Pay Pal Credit card! Know your audience scammers! Think mcfly think!

[taylorpaige143]

Unfortunately that isn't true. I would call PayPal directly and talk to their fraud center. That is what I did and I found out that in-fact my identity was stolen and the person who stole it set up a account with all my information except they used a IL phone number and had part of my personal email incorrect. PayPal confirmed they sent this collection to this debt collecting business (American Coradius International LLC) as they use it for 3rd party collections. Now PayPal is doing an investigation for fraud.

[AWE28]

Just received an letter saying I owe $63.24.  There was unusual activity reported 11/2020 and then my account was suspended.

I have not tried to reactivate or use the account since.

Toady I have changed my password and my username.

Plz report ACI to the fraud authorities because some unsuspecting people will be paying what they think are overdue amounts.

They would be afraid of a collection agency coming after them.

Plus if ACI is a legitimate company then I'm sure they want to clear their name.

Thanks,

Alison Eckis

[optodata]

They are legitimate as far as I can tell. After reading the comments here, I called and spoke to someone at ACI and it appears that somebody may have fraudulently opened a PayPal account in my name. The debt collector agent referred the case back to PayPal who will have to respond within 30 days.

As for providing identifying info on the call, I chose to not give the last 4 of my SSN and instead provided my address, which they already had since they'd just mailed the notice to me.

[EDSIO]

I received the same letter thay I owed 620 dlls. My PP account balance is $0 I don't owe anything on it. 

Same situation with address (Envelope - Texas) (Letter Amherst, NY)

Very frustrating. 

[Lmr91]

This isn’t real…. PayPal is NOT paypal inc but “paypal holding,inc”. Will verify for sure in the morning but 90% sure this is a scam as name was spelt not full but my nickname.