# Why does Intrum Justitia is keep calling me?



## panama12 (Sep 3, 2015)

Hello guys,

I have been traveling in Portugal for a while and since January I started to get calls from Intrum Justitia.

I don't speak Portuguese and obviously I do not own anything in Portugal that I could hacve a debt for. So until now I have just ignored these calls.

Has anyone else had this issue and how did you deal with it?


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## advolex (Mar 8, 2015)

*Be careful!*

It sounds like a scam. Criminals are intimidating you so that you would pay up immediately by using your credit card or making exorbitant phone calls.

You say that this has happened on more than one occasion. I would suggest to record the calls and to be clear that you will not discuss any serious matter over the telephone.

The collection agency you mention is Swedish (although at some point at least it was listed on the NL stock exchange) and is operating from Stockholm, Nacka. They have agents in some other countries, but these are mostly independent and operate under own brands. Intrum Justitia is a serious player in the collection market and they would not call anyone without presenting the substantiated claim in writing first. There are benefits also from operating in Sweden, as the said country does not have an effective authorisation requirement as many other countries have. In Germany for instance it's illegal to perform collection (legal) services without authorisation from a court of law. In Sweden anybody can do it, and they do. - I would call Intrum Justitia to find out if they or their Portuguese partner has called you lately and insist that they give you the information in writing, either by letter or by email. Mark the person's name you were speaking with, and keep the details of the conversation. Then you could later go to the police and report the fraudulent scam.

I was legal counsel for Intrum Justitia when they took off and became the major player under the slogan "Fair Pay, please!". The element of Fair Play (or fairness, generally) was always lacking with the other players, unfortunately. And possibly Intrum Justitia could have gone down the drain also. But I do believe it's a scam, and that PT has it's fair share of such activities. I received a collection letter last year, in Portuguese, from a completely unknown Collection Agency with affiliation to the UK. It was signed by someone who gave the impression of bearing a PT name so I deemed it legit at first. As I couldn't find neither who the debtor nor the creditor was, only some amount in UK funds, I wrote and told them. I never heard back from them after that. A peculiarity of my trade is that many people try to benefit from the deep pockets of some lawyers, and send claim letters hoping that the lawyer would pay instead of the Client. But there are banks for that purpose. What I did get was a few emails with PDF attachments, who might have been related, but after scanning instead of opening them I found them to be infected with a particularly nasty trojan virus. They have never called, though. When callers speak Portuguese and refuse to speak English, they are most certainly sales people from some Call Centre. This industry has suffered in the recession all over Europe, but they seem to have found some tail wind lately. I have learned to never do a contract over the telephone and I tell them this immediately, in a clear voice. That's another matter however.:second:


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