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Don't think it's a scam but for seems like a recurring pattern
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I got a call regarding a supposedly unpaid hospital bill which was handled by my insurance almost 2 years ago. The woman I spoke with spoke one of the worst slang I've ever heard (I speak French and I got the call in a crowded restaurant so that made things
a little hard for me). I ended up providing her with my address (she didn't have it ... what king of collection agency doesn't have this information) so she could send me a statement of account. I received the statement about one month later. I'm not used
to such document but there were no details justifying the amount, just their address and the creditor (Criticare). Assuming I had chosen to write a check (it was a relatively small amount, ~250$) there were no instructions saying to whom I should write it.
I proceeded right away by calling my insurance. They had a record of the exact same amount listed on the statement being paid and cashed 2 years ago but I was explained that very often hospitals hire collection agencies then receive the payment but don't notify
the collection agency. I think that this is a real collection agency (the amount on the statement matched a real amount paid by my insurance). I don't think it's a scam (maybe they are notified but proceed anyway hoping to cash the money themselves), just
mentally challenged people doing business with careless people. On the other hand while reading the other reviews this seem like a recurring pattern (amounts under 1k$, contacted almost 2 years after) so maybe this is indeed a scam (can't imagine they have
a lot of success but they don't risk much as they can always argue that they don't have a record of being notified by the creditor and that they didn't pay the creditor following an administrative error).
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