The group aims to draw wider attention to what it describes as the “shadowy, speculative market of debt buyers”. It’s a murky world in which debt is bought in anonymous bundles at a fraction of its potential value. These debt buyers then make huge profits by hounding debtors into repaying the full amount. Strike Debt aims to disrupt the process by setting up its members as debt collectors (a simple process in the US), buying bundles of debt and then writing off the amount owed. The person in debt gets a letter proclaiming: “You no longer owe the balance of this debt. It is gone, a gift with no strings attached. You are no longer under any obligation to settle this account with the original creditor, the bill collector, or anybody else.” This fire-sale system has allowed Strike Debt to abolish approximately $1,000 of debt for every $50 raised. The organisers say they’re not trying to offer a solution; they’re trying to draw attention to a problem.