Agreement ends push to collect old Qwest debts

Qwest customers who have been hounded to pay old bills should get some relief under an agreement the company made with Attorney General Lori Swanson's office this month. Whistleblower reported in May on an Illinois collection agency that was attempting to collect an estimated 100,000 old Qwest debts in Minnesota. In the past three years, Qwest sold allegedly delinquent accounts to AFNI, Inc., even though some of the accounts had been disputed by the customer, stemmed from identity theft or had been previously paid, according to the agreement. Some of the accounts had been closed for more than six years, which is the statute of limitations in Minnesota for most types of debt. AFNI paid at least $4 million for the accounts.

"In some cases, Qwest has admitted that it no longer has the information necessary to validate the accounts, due to their old age," the agreement said.

Qwest denied the attorney general's allegations, but the company said it would retrieve the accounts from AFNI and remove any debts from the credit histories of its Minnesota customers. In the future, the company agreed not to sell debt that has been disputed and not substantiated, and that is the result of identity theft or fraud.

Qwest agreed to pay $50,000 to the state, which can be used as restitution to consumers.

Scammed by a psychic?

An 80-year-old Elk River woman's phone call presented a quandary for Whistleblower. She wanted to warn others to avoid doing business with Maria Duval, doing business as the Destiny Research Center, because she never came into the windfall of cash she had been promised while mailing payments for two years.

Here's what the Elk River customer got for roughly $2,000: a magic medallion, two decks of magic cards and a sheaf of letters promising that the future will be profitable, if she just believes it deeply enough.

The spell was finally broken for the Elk River woman when her banker asked why she was getting so many money orders and advised that it sounded like a scam.

Scammers using the name Maria Duval operate around the world, and consumer protection agencies in several countries have warned people against sending money. In 2007, the U.S. Postal Service ordered Maria Duval, the National Parapsychology Center and the Zodiac Center to stop doing business through the mail. The Better Business Bureau gives Maria Duval and the Destiny Research Center an "F" rating.

The BBB thinks the business is run by Marie-Rose Valmont in Woodbridge, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. But you may have to be psychic to reach her, because Valmont does not have a public phone number or e-mail address.