/EINPresswire.com/ -- WOODLAND HILLS, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/10/16 -- Many debt collectors have become increasingly aggressive and relentless with their calls.

They come when you're busy at work, forcing you to duck into an empty conference room in order to take their calls without embarrassment. They come when you're at home, trying to enjoy a rare sit-down meal with your busy family.

Third-party debt collection, in which companies buy delinquent debt for pennies on the dollar, has grown into a $55 billion industry. Unfortunately, the industry has attracted a growing number of unscrupulous operators.

The Federal Trade Commission says it receives more complaints about debt collectors than any other industry, and recently announced a crackdown called Operation Collection Protection, according to Vantage Acceptance, a leading online debt relief services provider.

The continuing nationwide crackdown focuses on collectors whose illegal tactics include harassing phone calls, false threats of lawsuits and arrest, attempts to collect phony debts, not providing consumers with legally required disclosures, and noncompliance with state licensing requirements.

The FTC, in cooperation with state and local law enforcement, has now brought 130 legal actions against collectors over the past year.

But there are many operators who have yet to be stopped. Consumers who have accumulated more debt than they're able to pay, for whatever reason, could be their next target.

Vantage Acceptance can help. We can negotiate with creditors of unsecured debt to accept less than the full amounts owed in exchange for a lump-sum payment, eliminating the debt before third-party collectors ever get the chance to buy it up.

In one case, the collectors were able to convince consumers that they were law enforcement, threatening jail, lawsuits, vehicle impoundment and driver's license suspension, if they didn't pay. Consumers believed the letters and postcards came from the government because they had their personal information such as Social Security and bank account numbers. One letter to consumers was labeled, "WARRANT FOR YOUR ARREST."

Other illegal tactics collectors often employ are telling your friends and relatives about your debt, calling you at work after you have told them not to, calling you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in your time zone, calling you numerous times in the same day, and using threatening or profane language.

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