WHAT: Melanie Beacham of St. Petersburg, Fla., started receiving phone calls from relatives — all linked on her Facebook page — who were worried about car payments she missed while on medical leave from work.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT: Beacham has apparently become the first person to file a lawsuit seeking to ban a loan company from using social-networking websites to contact friends and family members about a debt.
WHY IT’S OUTRAGEOUS: Facebook is a powerful new weapon used increasingly by debt collectors and divorce lawyers to trigger panic and embarrassment by harassing someone’s family and friends.
