A Florida judge ordered a debt collector to stop using Facebook to try to find a woman who owed $362 on an unpaid car loan, after the agency allegedly sent Facebook messages to the woman and her family about collecting the debt.
Melanie Beacham filed a lawsuit against the debt collector, Mark One Financial LLC of Jacksonville, Fla. in August, saying that the company violated her privacy and a state law against harassment by debt collectors, the Associated Press reported. Her complaint also said that she and members of her family received Facebook messages for her to call the company about her debt. Beacham also said the agency contacted her neighbor and sent a courier to her workplace.
Mark One Financial said they did nothing wrong but admitted last August that it did use Facebook as a last-ditch attempt to locate debtors.
After numerous reports on how our Facebook activity can hurt us -- from our profiles being used as evidence against us to denying individuals a job or college admissions based on perceptions of who we are -- it's nice to see that at least Facebook may still be a safe haven from debt collectors.
