How Not to Deal with Debt Collection Complaints: Murder the Debtor

This isn’t an April Fool’s Day joke.  Nor is it a true-crime rendering of a Patterson Hood murder ballad.  It’s a no nonsense primer on the worst possible approach to handling a disgruntled consumer.

According to an Associated Press story in this morning’s Herald Sun, Indonesian police have arrested three Citibank employees after authorities found the body of a man who had come to a southern Jakarta branch of Citi to complain about his credit card bill.  Reports indicate that Irzen Octa, a local politician, visited the branch to protest an almost $4,000 increase on his billing statement.  The three Citibank debt collectors allegedly interrogated Octa forcefully, beating and eventually killing him.  Initial autopsy reports showed trauma to the man’s face and head.

One can only imagine the inevitable consumer news spin that might ensue in the wake of The FTC’s 2012 Report to Congress had this crime happened in the US.  “The FTC said that the least common complaint about debt collectors in 2011 was homicide…” would no doubt be reported in US newspapers as “Murder most foul now indicated among rising consumer complaints about debt collection industry.”