Beware of fishing expeditions

I got a strange phone call night before last. A man saying that he was calling to collect on an unpaid credit card that I knew to be paid off two years ago. The balance that I paid off was 34.00 (you can tell I really used the card a lot). He said that I still owed the company 46.00 and change and because of interest now owed over 200.00 dollars. Well, I knew that I had paid that card off. I had received no more bills from the company and no collection notices. He wanted to set up a check by phone to pay the balance. The thing that made me suspicious was when he told me the address that the letter was mailed to. He said the first address and I said nope haven't lived there in years. He said a second address and I said nope have lived there in years either. He finally on the third try came up with my current address. Hmmm! Something smells pretty fishy when he has to go through 3 addresses and 3 states to get to the correct one. Methinks he is fishing. I told him that I would look back through my paperwork and find the last bill along with the canceled check. I would then look to make sure that I had the letter that his company supposedly sent and then he could call me back the next evening (would have been last night) and we could settle the matter. I looked, yep last bill paid and they indeed sent me a bill following showing a ......zero balance. Looked for this supposed letter and there is none. Also, no follow-up phone call. I have had phishing phone calls before. I had one concerning a student loan that was paid off (have the loan paperwork stamped paid in full that was returned when it was paid). So folks, let this be a warning there are folks out there trying to phish for your information by saying that you didn't pay something. Keep your paperwork and keep track of what you pay. I keep every bill that comes in this house for the past 7 years. At the end of each year everything goes into a storage box with the tax return on top and labeled with the year. Yes it takes up space, but you never know when you might need it for proof of something. That student loan phishing call was 10 years after the student loan was paid in full. It just so happened that I kept those papers because I struggled so hard to pay them back. Be careful out there. Blessings, Kat