A debt collection firm has offered to target struggling Scots by sending “6ft 8in, 22st men” to their homes to confront them over unpaid bills.
Nightfox Investigations & Debt Recovery Ltd advertises online as an “old-fashioned face-to-face” debt recovery service.
Its slogans include “show your debtor who is in charge” alongside menacing photos of handcuffs and muscular skinheads.
The company also boasts that it employs “real men that get the job done” and promises to “make sure you are the first thing on your debtor’s mind in the morning and the last thing at night”.
The firm, owned by Phillip Dunn, 40, and his wife Gemma, 33, has five offices across the UK, including an investigations base in Albany Street in Edinburgh.
Dunn set up Nightfox in June 2016 after his former company, PHJ Recoveries Ltd, was dissolved in March 2015.
A Sunday Mail investigation found that the firm’s officers were prepared to even target a debtor’s family and friends as well as turning up at their workplace.
Scottish politicians have branded their approach “morally repugnant” while charities described their tactics as “very concerning” and “toxic”.
Nightfox’s slick website attempted to drum up business by boasting: “You cannot ignore a 6ft 8in, 22st man stood in front of you. At that point, the debtor will begin to take you seriously.”
The claims appear alongside images of muscular men staring menacingly into the camera.
A Sunday Mail investigator called their Edinburgh number and was told by a woman that an employee would ring them back.
Days later, they received a call from a man who identified himself as “Dean”. After posing as an out-of-pocket landlord who was owed money by a tenant, Dean said: “What we do is we get under his skin. We get in his face. We are wherever he is.
“We bring other people into play. We bring family, friends, if we have to. Because everybody has a weak spot and it’s finding a way of manipulating it.”
Dunn, of Lancashire, is an armed forces veteran who started his own business after leaving the military.
The Credit Services Association (CSA), which is the trade body for debt collectors, sets general standards in the industry for the collection of unregulated debts. Nightfox is not a member.
David Stewart, Scottish Labour spokesperson for the eradication of poverty and social inequality, said: “That a debt collection agency is using its willingness to physically intimidate and psychologically bully those in debt as a selling point is utterly abhorrent. People who find themselves in debt deserve to have the support of an understanding society, not to have ‘6ft 8in, 22st’ men at their door.
“The suggestion that this company is willing to bring the families and friends ‘into play’ is morally repugnant.”
Scottish Conservative MSP Annie Wells said: “The practice and attitudes of this firm are horrific and shouldn’t be tolerated.
“Any firm that runs on nothing but bullying and intimidation should be run out of town immediately.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat economy spokeswoman Katy Gordon said: “The intimidation tactics this company proposes are unacceptable. It’s unbelievable they’re pushing these hostile bully-boy methods as a selling point.”
Nightfox claims on its website it does not need to be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority as “we do not undertake any regulated activities”.
It also claims it will “undertake any legally owed debt” but does not take cases covered by the Credit and Consumer Act 1974.
Myles Fitt, of Citizens Advice Scotland, said: “It’s very concerning to see anyone proposing these kind of tactics to pursue debts. If people feel threatened in any way, they should contact the police.
“We would urge people who are in any kind of debt to seek advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). Our expert debt advice is free, impartial and confidential.”
The UK’s leading debt charity, StepChange, slammed the methods used by Nightfox.
Sharon Bell, head of debt advice at StepChange Scotland, said: “Vindictive debt collection helps no one. Intimidating potentially vulnerable people isn’t the way to help creditors recover money.
“The majority of people who turn to StepChange for help with debt have suffered unfortunate changes in circumstances. You cannot bully someone out of a position of difficulty.
“The fact that companies using such toxic techniques see them as a selling point shows just how important it is to encourage a more humane and effective debt collection culture.”
A CSA spokesman said: “Treating customers (those in debt) fairly must be at the heart of any debt collection activity. The CSA, which represents 90 per cent of the debt collection market, expects its members to follow a code of practice that embeds this very principle.
“Customers must not be subject to aggressive collection practices and firms must pay due regard to the interests of those they are dealing with.
“Experience shows practices that are aggressive rather than sympathetic are, ultimately, counter-productive for both the customer and the firm attempting to collect the monies owed.
“If customers or businesses find themselves facing practices that are unacceptably aggressive, they should report the firm concerned to their local authority Trading Standard Service.”
After being contacted by the Sunday Mail, Nightfox said it would add an “advice” section to its website offering links to organisations that can offer debtors help.
Nightfox also deleted claims on its website that a “6ft 8in, 22st man” cannot be ignored. The page now says a debtor cannot ignore “a real person”.
A spokesman for the firm – based in Manchester – said Nightfox was an ethical firm whose employees were vetted for criminal records.
He added: “The website is a shop window for clients, not a terror window for debtors.
“The debts we undertake are business-related debts either between businesses and businesses or business to individuals and we do not undertake any work under a credit agreement.
“Our website, whilst as you say may imply something it does not, there are many unscrupulous companies within our sector – we are not one of them.
“As we do not undertake credit debts, we have never had a section on our site regarding depression or help charities.
“As we are a very ethical company, we will be implementing a new health page on our site pointing people to bodies such as the CAB and Mind if they are seeking help.”
