What If The Phone Company Called Your Friends To Collect Your Bill?

from the ah,-so-much-data dept

Let's say you're a phone company, and someone has been a bit late in paying their bills. You have all their phone records, and you know who they call. Would it make sense to call some of their frequently called numbers and have these friends, family or colleagues put the pressure on the delinquent subscriber? According to a post at Dave Farber's Interesting People list, that's exactly what one mobile phone company in India just did. As the full story notes, the person that Hutch called up happened to be a potential client -- and that can't look good. While someone in the comments notes another local phone company did the same, you have to wonder if this is common practice, or one collections agent simply going to far. Either way, you have to wonder why a collections agent should have access to the phone numbers you call.