Their debt isn’t your debt.

Start by separating the caller from the debt

Being assigned someone’s former phone number does not make you responsible for their debt. A collection message can help identify the business and the person it wants to reach, but do not share account, banking, or identity information with an unverified caller.

Debt-collection calls are not always marketing calls. Being on the Do Not Call Registry is therefore not the whole analysis. Certain prerecorded or artificial-voice calls to cell phones can raise separate TCPA issues, depending on consent and exceptions.

What to preserve

Save original messages and note any details that connect repeated calls to the same company.

• The collector’s name and any creditor identified.
• The name of the person they ask for.
• The callback number and date of each message.
• Whether the message sounds prerecorded.
• When you told the company that it had the wrong number.

Ask for a fact-specific review

Other consumer-protection laws may also matter, depending on who is calling and what they do. The website questionnaire helps organize the facts; an attorney must assess which legal theories, if any, apply.

You do not need to know the amount of the other person’s debt. Focus on the communications you received and your own relationship, if any, with the caller.

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