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ST. PETERSBURG — A local judge has ordered a debt collection agency to not use Facebook — or any other social media site — in an attempt to locate a St. Petersburg woman for a $362 unpaid car loan.
Judge W. Douglas Baird also ordered Mark One Financial LLC of Jacksonville to not contact the woman's relatives or friends on Facebook.
The order is part of a lawsuit filed in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court in August by Melanie Beacham, who is suing the debt collection agency. According to court documents, Beacham said Mark One sent her messages on Facebook and sent messages to her family on the social networking site to have her call the agency regarding the debt.
Beacham's attorney, Billy Howard of the Morgan and Morgan law firm in Tampa, said the debt collectors violated Beacham's privacy and Florida's consumer protection law, which prohibits collectors from harassing people.
Howard said in the past four months, almost a dozen potential clients have contacted him because debt collectors have used social media sites to track them down.
"It's the beginning of an epidemic," Howard said. "It's another weapon debt collectors can use."
Beacham also claims Mark One contacted her six to 10 times a day by phone, sent her a text message, contacted her neighbor and sent a courier to deliver a letter to her workplace. Beacham at one point took the license plate off her car, telling the debt collector in a text message to just take it away and stop contacting her, according to court documents.
Mark One did not return a message from the Associated Press on Wednesday. In November, the agency said it would not discuss Beacham's case and denied wrongdoing. The company acknowledged its collectors use Facebook to find people when they don't respond to other means.
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