I'm a fraud specialist, but I did not mention that to the people who use this phone number. I'm fairly certain it is a debt collector's phone number. When I called today (in response to their SMS), I did not give any identifying details. Instead, I said I suspected I'd forgotten to pay a bill and would go home and check tonight. She was very polite about that, and she was also understanding that I would not provide identification details to someone who had cold-called me.

My advice is to check whether you have any overdue bills, and make arrangements directly with the providers if you can't pay it all at once. If you don't, the collectors will just keep calling.

Sometimes companies sell their debts to debt collectors, so you might not be able to pay the provider directly. Just confirm with the provider that the collector is legitimately entitled to your payment - and if it is, you know that it's NOT a scam.

But, NEVER give out your identification info to a cold caller/texter, regardless of where they say they are from.

SCAM SCAM SCAM

SMS sent to phone asking you to contact ARL with your details.

(There is a heap of info online about it!)The best advice is add number to SPAM or delete.