BY Tripp Whetsell 

Monday, September 28th 2009, 4:00 AM 
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/personal_finance/2009/09/28/2009-09-28_
collection_firms_join_old_pals_looking_for_you_on_facebook_friending_you
r_friend.html?print=1&page=all

Long Island food consultant Michael Bucello's credit card debt from his
college years seemed gone, but they weren't forgotten. 

When Michael Bucello got his first credit card as a college freshman in
1994, he had trouble resisting the siren song of shopping.

His spending sprees quickly led to a $1,600 tab he had trouble paying.

"I was young and irresponsible," the Lindenhurst, L.I., food consultant,
now 34, admitted, "but when you're 19 years old, you pretty much think
you're indestructible."

He eventually shredded his Visa card and, although he got several
notices in the mail early on, presumed as the years went by that his old
debts had been forgotten.

While the mail had stopped, the debt hadn't been forgiven. And it turns
out Bucello made himself easy to find - he had a Facebook page.

Last year, workers at a debt collection agency in Maryland noticed his
Facebook page and tracked him down.

Bucello said the agency was aggressive, even contacting his mother and
threatening that an unpaid debt could land him in jail.

Bucello offered to pay $50 a month, but the agency wanted more. They had
his bank account frozen and began calling the West Islip, L.I.,
restaurant where he moonlights as a chef on weekends.

It was only after he hired a lawyer who handles consumer collection
cases that the agency agreed to settle, he said.

Bucello is hardly alone in finding his Internet presence brought him
more than reacquaintanances with long forgotten high school friends.

In the world of online bounty hunting, debt collectors increasingly turn
to social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to go
after people trying to forget their bills.

"They just have to 'friend' your friends on Facebook," said Manhattan
consumer lawyer Brian Bromberg.

"A lot of creditors [are] turning to Google and other search engines to
dig into people's past," he said. "You've got to be careful because,
once it's out there, there's not much you can do to take it back."

With the economy still struggling, tales like Bucello's have become all
too common, according to city Consumer Affairs Commissioner Jonathan
Mintz. He added that many collectors are pursuing people about debts
already paid.

"A lot of this has to do with the technology, which has not been as good
for the consumer as it has been for the collector," Mintz said. "The
biggest complaints we've been getting and finding to be true are about
debt collection agencies who are trying to collect money that isn't
actually owed."

Several lawyers and experts agreed, saying that trouble easily arises
when the results of an Internet search are used too hastily.

"I think it is part of a much larger pattern that has evolved over the
last decade where collectors and creditors are using technology to be
more creative and aggressive," said Justin Baxter, an Oregon consumer
lawyer who tells clients to keep a paper trail and, where legal, to
record their phone conversations. (It is legal in New York State.)

Jeffrey Hyslip, a former debt collector who's now a consumer advocate in
Chicago, noted that "there's not a lot of rules governing how these debt
collectors go after people as it relates to finding out about things
such as where they live, work and what their most recent purchases are."

In fact, this is exactly the type of info debt collectors look for
because it's the easiest way to expose your vulnerabilities and build a
case, he said.

Collection professionals insist that looking for debtors online is no
different than using a phone book.

"Googling somebody is not unlike looking for someone in any other type
of directory," said Jay Gonsalves, president of the Association of
Credit and Collection Professionals. "It's public information and if
someone has a MySpace or Facebook page and they've incurred a debt than
there's absolutely nothing wrong with a debt collector using this
information to locate them.

"On the other hand," he acknowledged, "there is a clear line and if they
are posting comments or disclosing this information to another person,
than that's illegal."

The Federal Trade Commission's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act does
have guidelines aimed at protecting consumers.

Bucello and others say they've become a lot more careful about what they
do online - and how much money they spend.

"What bothered me the most about this," said Bucello, who no longer has
a credit card, "was that, outside of this one mistake I made in college,
nothing like this ever happened to me before and I'm absolutely
convinced they got to me because I had a Facebook page.

"Now I'm a lot more vigilant about what I do on the Internet and I've
also gotten a crash course about the importance of paying my bills on
time."
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