Three operators of multiple debt-collection agencies were sued by New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo in an attempt to shut down the companies over illegal tactics. Some of the practices detailed at a press conference announcing the suit included insulting victims, threatening victims with immediate arrest while pretending to be law officers and calling everyone in the phone book with the same name in an attempt to receive payment. In some cases, victims paid the agencies even when they did not owe anything just to stop the harassment.