If this article from the New York Times is a representative sample of what the world of debt collections looks like then it is past time to look at better regulations ( emphasis is mine ):
As he soon discovered, after creditors sell off unpaid debts, those debts enter a financial netherworld where strange things can happen. A gamut of players — including debt buyers, collectors, brokers, street hustlers and criminals — all work together, and against one another, to recoup every penny on every dollar. In this often-lawless marketplace, large portfolios of debt — usually in the form of spreadsheets holding debtors’ names, contact information and balances — are bought, sold and sometimes simply stolen.
The idea that all you need to have to support your claim that you now own the rights to a specific amount of debt is an entry on a spreadsheet is terrifying. Who lets a financial marketplace run in such a crazy fashion?