Self help company ripoff

kentrel

A guy I've been talking to was involved with one of these shady companies that offer coaching in various self help methods. He had paid a fortune towards them for training. For whatever reason there was a dispute and they believed he owed them a large sum of money. He had decided he didn't owe them this money. I initially told him that he should shut up and just pay them if he owes them money, but then he shared with me an email exchange they had.

In this email they
1) Bragged that they were friends with an ex army officer who ran a debt collection agency and made personal visits
2) Bragged that they had socially engineered(blagged) his bank into giving them his personal details including his home address.
3) Bragged that they knew the details of his parents address, and said "How would your parents feel if debt collectors showed up on their doorstep"
4) Claimed that the video footage they had taken of him in class for training purposes was still on file, as well as all his self help materials, and they would SEND IT TO ALL HIS FRIENDS AND FAMILY in order to embarrass him.
5) Threatened to send a letter to his employer telling them the nature of the services he owes them money for and how much he owes, embarrassing him further.

He told me that the monetry dispute is now settled.

My friend wants to put this past him, but since I've had dealings with this company before I want to take this further. There's so much in this email exchange that must be illegal. My friend is not interested in taking this further because he's afraid they may continue to blackmail him or get more money out of him, and embarrass him in front of his family.

I'm pretty sure this company is operating illegally in the UK, i.e. not declaring their revenue, or paying taxes etc. Clearly they are threatening to breach the Data Protection Act, and they acquired private bank details illegally by tricking a MAJOR bank.

I'm sure you all agree that this is disgusting behaviour, but what I need is a list of the proper agencies to contact. They probably think they're untouchable because they market on the internet but live in America. However, they do send coaches over to the UK, and I happen to know that their owner is currently living in the UK for a while

All I know is that Trading Standards deals with this stuff, but I don't really know if they have jurisdiction over other stuff that I suspect. For example, I don't think they are declaring their revenue or paying taxes, but I can't prove it, so how do I report stuff like that too?

Thanks in advance

paddyrg

Or, of course, they may just be full of crap in an effort to intimidate. Ex-forces debt collectors are not going to shoot your house up, employers...who cares?, bank details, unlikely. Are they claiming to have broken the law in their emails, and also be claiming to intimidate cash from clients?

mynameisdave

Seinding menacing communications is a criminal offence. If you really want to call their bluff report them to the police. If you are sure the friend does not owe money then do not cave in to their bullying. They cannot send a debt collector round until they have a court order establishing the money is owed.

kentrel

Yes they did admit to obtaining his private details from his bank illegally. They bragged about it and even sarcastically told him he should have a word with them about letting that information out.

My friend says the monetry dispute is now over. He wants to put this past him. However, I think with a better knowledge of what laws they might have broken I think I might be able to convince him to go the police.

scheming_gypsy

kentrel wrote: »

Yes they did admit to obtaining his private details from his bank illegally.

i know your bank details, the name of your budgie, which drawer your dad keeps his socks in and i've also slept with your butchers wife.

Granted, none of the above is true but i still said it. the company haven't admitted to obtaining anything, they just told him they had.

Although if he fell for it he needs to ask for a refund as their course clearly failed.

kentrel

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

Granted, none of the above is true but i still said it. the company haven't admitted to obtaining anything, they just told him they had.

They did admit to obtaining it illegally from the bank. The information they had was accurate and he didn't give it to them. They bragged about getting it from the bank.