These people keep calling and calling about legal action but we do not owe anyone for any services.  They are of very heavy indian accent and you cannot understand them.  We will no longer take any calls from this number and try to block it.. so annoying

206-508-7318 A woman called from this # claiming to be w/some law agency and saying I had a complaint against me. I wish they would stop calling my phone.

My friend called me at work today and told me an Officer Washington was trying to get a hold of me and I needed to call them back immediately!  I was confused, so I called the number she left back which was1-206-508-7318.  The phone just rang!  I called my friend back and asked her what number showed up on her caller ID when this person called.  It was 1-206-212-1725.  They said I was in a law suit and needed to pay money now.  I told them that I didn't have any payday loans.  The couldn't give me the name of any companies.  So I said I need their name and number and their company name.  I would give it to my lawyer and he would be in contact with them.  They hung up on me!  They must think I'm stupid!

Wow, these caller really have been harrasing so many people, huh?  Well, I 've received these type of calls for a few times this april telling me that I owe them money and that if don't settle this outside the court I will be arrested and I will be required to show up before the court. These callers has accent of indians or some pakistani's and the connection is bad...  Funny thing is they have my information such as SSN, bank acct info...which I suspect was taken from my online payday loan application that I did last month which I never received nor never they deposited any money to my account.  Bottom line, they haven't taken any money from me yet.  I just hope these guys/gals will be stopped as soon as possible before they start ruining somebody's financial life.

I received a message from someone identifying themselves as Officer John Garcia.  They had a very strong Indian accent, spoke very fast and the connection was very broken.  I tried returning the call the same night to 206-212-1725, but it seemed I copied the number down wrong.  I decided to call back the next day and was able to get through.  When I asked what company I was calling, They only said the department of investigation.  They tried to convince me that I owed money and if I chose not to settle out of court by paying them $326, I would end up spending 15 days in jail. The whole conversation was as bad as the message.  The connection was really broken and he tried to convince me it was my phone.  He offerred to call me back and I agreed, the number came thru really weird.  It was 052569163.  After a heated conversation and being transferred around, they hung up on me.  Hopefully they'll never call back.  Glad I didn't fall for it.

I received several calls on my job in which I was very disturbed about from the number 206-212-1725. I called back but no one answered so I left a vm. I immediately typed the phone number in Google and got this information. Thanks everyone for the helpful information. I guess I will just have to endure the harrassment since the authorities doesn't seem to care as long as we are not paying them anything. It was kind of scary because they are saying they have my ss#.

Thanks all for the information.

My son received a call from the same number 206-212-1725 and told him he was investigating me, demanding that he must help or would be in big trouble. The name was not intelligible, of course he called very worried about what was happening to me. When I called back blocking my number I could not understand what he was saying the connection was so bad and he hung up on me. its not a land line because you can dial 1+ or just the 10-digit number.

The second time, I still could not make out his name asking him to repeat it. All I could pull out of him was he stated that he belonged to the Department of Investigations in Washington DC. I asked him if this was the Washington DC police department...he hesistated and said 'yes'. I asked again if he was a police officer and again he stated 'yes'.

To make this a short story, the main thing I noticed during this call, a woman was in the background repeating every word I said in clear English before he would speak. I told him the connection was too bad and would call the DC police department so I could better here him. Of course he yelled something then hung up. My phone displayed the wireless number as Des Moines, WA.

I think the voice was from someone in the Carribean. When I had problems with OSL/SSM payday loans they gave an address for Nevis island. Of course OSL/SSM has an 800 number not a US termination. Be careful of any loans or emails from this company.

Thank you all very much for your information and advice.

My roommate recieved a call from +052569163, the gentleman (I Use that turm loosely) I.D.'ed himself as Officer Scott and needed to get ahold of her mother to get some legal paperwork from her.     My roommate asked for a return number to give to her mother, (206-21-1752) as the number given.   When I looked at the number, I told her that it was a scam and not to worry about it.

       Being a Private Investigator, I just had to call and see what info i could get from them.     After three attempts I finally reached someone and asked for Officer Scott.      When Officer Scott got on the phone I told him that I had a few questions for him.    He said that he would answer them if he could.     I asked for his full name, what agency he worked for and his badge No. he told me not to worry about that and i neede to co-operate with him or else.     I told him "No, you need to give this information before I would talk to him".     He again said I needed me to co-oprater or else.       In return I said "no, I need your info and that I had already contacted the FBI."     He made some other comment that I couldn't understand and hungup on me.        I filed a report with local P.D.

yea my bank told me the same thing they called my mother, my job and my cell phone

i got a call from them yesterday and they lm on my voicemail i couldn't understand much so i just deleted it, then they called my mother's cell # and she called me. When i called the number back i couldn't make out much except money and court. i told them to send it in writing. My husband then called them and they hung up on him. they couldn't give me an exact amount for what i owed, or what company they were from. i contacted my bank and double checked all my statements to make sure i hadn't recieved any money from an outside source and i hadn't, i also came to work today and there was a voicemail from them on my machine. i think i'm gonna call the consumer protection agency as well regarding this. oh and my guy's name  was officer Mark Nixon

On March 31st of 2011 I received a phone call from this number identifying himself as officer John Garcia. I couldn't barely understand him because of his accent and I wanna say broken English. He told me that I owe lots of money from some payday loans on line and that legal action should be taken against me, and he said that it's best if I settle this outside the court otherwise I would have to pay 10,000 us dollars or more. But Guess what! I do not owe no payday loans and that there was never no money that was deposited in my account from any payday loans on line.

I just took a valid police complaint from a guy who got a call from a fake officer Sherry Watson. In addition to phone harassment charges I am adding Inpersonating a Police Officer. HAA!

Kudos to "Sam" for giving the most intelligent and informative posts on this scam. READ, Bookmark and use as needed:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-631-456-4041/2

I have been receiving phone calls from this group since late April / early May of 2010.  There is a good chance that they also attempted to contact me roughly two years ago before I entered into Chapter 7 Bankruptcy protection, as I faintly remember hearing the same script more or less.

As others have stated, the callers are difficult to understand.  Generally speaking their command of the English language is quite poor and their accents are hard to follow. At times they will get certain words or phrases mixed up.  It would be funny if it wasn't for the fact that they had:

a) Your SSN
b) Your home address
c) Your work address
d) Your banking info
e) Names, numbers and potentially the addresses of "references"
f) A complete and total lack of ethics and a basic understanding of the FDCPA.  

I have personally filed reports with the following agencies, often with limited (if any) success:

Local Police
my state's Attorney General's office
FTC
FBI
Secret Service

Generally the local police won't be able to help much.  The callers are using a combination of prepaid cell phones and VoIP, making them difficult to trace.  Also at their disposal are various spoofing tactics being implemented to catch people off guard - meaning the number that appears on your Caller ID isn't the number that is calling you for starters.  Without gaining a subpoena for the billing information for the numbers in question, the local police won't be able to get very far.  

My state's Attorney General's office couldn't offer much assistance either.  I received a form letter in the mail that my complaint was received and I would be contacted if they needed additional info.  It was more or less the same information I obtained from the FTC.  They each advised me not to give the individuals over the phone any account information or to authorize payment.  That's just common sense, though.

I never got anything from the FBI, either.  There is a good chance that since I haven't suffered a monetary loss that my concerns are low on the totem pole.  I hate to say this, but that is truly the case. Unless you were in the hole for a $1,000 (or more) you aren't going to get much more than "sorry to hear about your situation, change your phone number and move on".  I seemed to get some activity from the Secret Service.  I spoke with agent Doug Zloto. (Google him, referencing threads like these plus his name and you'll find his number also)  He seemed to care a bit more than the average person, but after giving him access to my Google Voice account, there has been no further activity from him that I'm aware of.

In the meantime I changed the wireless number the fraudsters had access to, they have no direct way to get a hold of me.  (Calls at work have ceased for some reason)  That in turn resulted in my "references" getting phone calls from the crooks.  Here is a word of caution for women that have been getting these calls - don't say anything and just hang up.  The callers are quite abusive towards women callers.  Why?  Possibly the culture.  If they are Indian / Pakistani, women are second class citizens there.  You will be treated like garbage.  This happened to a family member when she was trying her best to be extremely nice over the phone.  

The callers currently attempt to reach me through the female family member and an unused Google Voice number that they managed to find of mine.  I keep the Google Voice number open because, well, I can't delete it yet.  So, about every day, 4-5 times a day for the last week, I get voice messages from them.  It's usually just two full messages though - the other calls are broken up with static or they are attempts to read the script until the callers then screw up.  Really, they are that adamant on getting the script 100% that they will hang up mid-sentence and call back 30 seconds later.  

At this point it's a stalemate with these people.  

1) While they have the lion's share of information on us, they can't really do anything with this information.  

Why?  Think about it.

If they were to ever take funds out of your account without authorization, it's fraud and worse (for them) it is traceable.  That's why they won't do anything with your information, contrary to threats they make.  The money from your account has to go somewhere, and either your bank or a law enforcement agency can determine where the money was routed.  As a bank customer you are protected - you'd get the stolen money back in your account after 7-10 business days and the bank would be temporarily out the funds deducted from your account while they conducted their investigation.  The bank, along with law enforcement, would track down the fraudsters and apprehend them.  The fraudsters do not want to incur the wrath of a bank, just extort money out of you.  Remember that.    

Your authorization would absolve the bank from any and all liability, leaving you holding the bag.  Never give them authorization for anything - for all you know the call is recorded.  

2) We have no information on them.

Seriously, this has been going on at least since 2008, possibly longer than that based on some accounts. (6 years??? Holy crap!)  You would think someone would have slipped up by now.  Sadly, they haven't.  We can continue to grow our own intel on them and compile lists of aliases and phone numbers used, along with paraphrases of scripts used in order to educate other victims.  I'm actually putting together a site now in the meantime where I'll host audio files and lists of previous numbers used.  800notes.com is great, but no two calls are exactly the same.  It would be nice to have a site dedicated to the scam and how it works.

So that's where I am with these calls.  I have suffered no monetary loss, though I have been harassed both at home and at work.  They threaten me with arrest and other "fun" things in order to get me convinced I have to pay them.  My friends and family have been targeted and local and federal law enforcement agencies haven't been able to put a stop to things.  So, it is what it is.  I am out a wireless phone number I had for roughly six years, which is terrible since I was using that line when looking for a new job.  

Whenever I'm bored I spoof my number using Google Voice and return the calls.  I've called them the poster children for birth control, etc.  Basically a lot of nasty things that I'm sure the moderators here wouldn't appreciate me repeating - bottom line nothing nice.  I always like to close saying their parents must be real proud knowing their sons weren't man enough to get real jobs.  That usually gets a decent response.  

Way I see it - they can't do anything to me. (Despite a threat yesterday that my life would be f'ed up)  They can threaten all they want but my credit is frozen and my bank information has changed.  I've changed the only number they could really access me directly on and I've instructed my employer and family to not answer the calls.  I just call and harass them now when I find a few extra seconds.  What's the worst they can do to me?  Charge me with harassment?  

Nope, then they would have to identify themselves.

Oh, and don't bother contacting Cashnet USA about the calls.  Their "fraud" department could honestly care less.  Their "investigation" is merely a means of buerocratic CYA.  I would even be surprised at this point if actual law enforcement is involved in any shape, way or form at this time.  

There is a good chance that the information these crooks have on us was obtained from Cashnet USA - either from a database leak or from a collector that was once authorized by Cashnet to call on delinquent customers.  The other chance is they have access to Teletrack, and pulled all of our information off of there.

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-646-274-1143/3

For at least the last four years, possibly longer, a group has been calling former payday loan applicants advising them that they have defrauded a bank and are now being sued for non-payment of a loan.  The callers will claim to be calling on behalf of an attorney's office (name varies), the Dept. of Law and Investigation, ACS, or other similar combinations below:

United Legal Processing Division
Midline Marketing
Crime Monitoring Services
Monetary Crime Division
U.S. National Bank
Attorney General?s Office (usually in California)
American Legal Services
Affidavit Consolidation Services (ACS)

You will be threatened with arrest, a costly trial and possibly worse.  In no shape, way or form can you be arrested for non-payment on a consumer debt.  Do not believe these threats, as they are without merit and cannot be carried out in the manner they allege.  

Who are they?

In the past when pressed by law enforcement for an address, the callers have provided the following information:

David Morgan and Associates
Morgan & Associates
Morgan Associates
954-727-8481
1155 Northwest 85th Street
Wintergarden, Florida  33150
(Address is likely invalid)

The collector's MO matches a once legit collections agency called Ellis Crosby & Associates.  Here are some links on them:

http://www.budhibbs.com/collectorpages/ellis_crosby_and_associates.htm
http://www.budhibbs.com/collectorpages/EllisCrosbyJudgment.pdf

They have been previously fined over $1.3 million for various violations.  They have been known to use phone banks in India to make their calls, which more or less coincides with the difficult to understand accent many of us detect when we are contacted.  

The last time this group went by any "official" name was back in 2008:

Ellis Crosby & Associates / Douglas & Morgan Associates
4494 Southside Boulevard Suite #200
Jacksonville Florida 32216
Phone:  800-928-3536 / (904) 928-3536
(Address is likely invalid)

There are NUMEROUS consumer alerts out against this group of individuals:

Florida:
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061107/met_176207561.shtml

Kansas:  
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/01/ks_debt_collection.html

Colorado:  
http://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/press/ ... lls_likely_orig

Rhode Island:  
http://www.collectionscreditrisk.com/news/rho ... -3002135-1.html

West Virginia:
http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm

Missouri:
On July 15th, 2010 a Public Awareness Bulletin was sent out by Missouri Information Analysis Center.  

"..received reports from individuals in Ohio and Illinois reference suspicious telephone calls they received. In both instances, the callers are reporting that a voicemail is received from a man, with a Middle Eastern accent, identifying himself as an officer working with the Financial Crimes Unit.  The message indicates that the reason for the call concerns a loan made by the receiver or someone in the receiver's family. The voicemail requests that a return call be made and a telephone number is provided. When a return call is made, the caller is asked to provide personal identifying information such as their date of birth and social security number.

Reports indicate that the calls are frequent and persistent and that they even threaten arrest or legal action if information or money is not provided. It appears that the individuals making these calls may have access to some records connecting individuals and their relatives.  Missouri does not have a Financial Crimes Unit and all indications are that this is a fictitious agency. If you receive a similar phone call, please be advised that it is a scam and please contact your local law enforcement agency or the Missouri Information Analysis Center at 866-362-6422."

Bottom line:

Do not supply the callers with any additional information.  Inform them you have reported them to law enforcement and hang up.  If you haven't already, go ahead and report the calls to local law enforcement, your state's Attorney General and beyond.  Look up the local Secret Service branch's information in your area and get in contact with an agent there.  

If you ever applied for a cash advance online, your information is out there.  
Possible sources for the breach of your privacy are:

* The scammers obtained your information from Teletrack - a reporting agency used by many cash advance lenders to determine their risk lending to you.  The service is able to tell cash advance lenders if you have existing loans with other companies, for example.  Many state laws prohibit borrowers from having more than two cash advances out at the same time.

* The scammers created their own fake payday loan application site.  People looking for a cash advance went to the site and applied, thus freely providing the scammers with their information for malicious use at a later time.  

* The scammers were able to get into the database(s) of cash advance lenders - probable targets being Sonic Payday and Cashnet USA.  


How to protect yourself:

* Inform your employer.  You are likely getting calls at home and/or at work, so make sure your employer is aware the calls are part of a scam and to not take them seriously.  Advise the callers that they are no longer allowed to call you at work.  If they continue to call, document the date and time of the calls you received.  Save voice mails left if at all possible.  

* Change your number(s).  For some this may not be an option, for others a one-time number change can be done free of charge.

Be advised - any references you listed on your payday loan application will be contacted.  Let those people know that this is a scam, and they can disregard.

* Use Google Voice.  Google Voice is a great replacement voice mail system for just about any phone number you use.  Messages can be transcribed and voice mail recordings can be saved as mp3 files.  

Pro Tip - call the scammers with a Google Voice number before turning off your old phone numbers.  Make sure when you call you identify yourself so they can start up their script.  At any point after they have your information pulled up just hang up.  They will then start religiously calling your Google Voice number.  At this point, you are free to change your regular phone number(s) and enjoy not having these people ever call you again.  (And laugh at the fact these people are basically talking to a brick wall several times a day)

The scammers change their numbers frequently.  Law enforcement used to think it was because the callers ran out of minutes on their prepaid wireless accounts or they were shuttered due to fraud, but now they understand it's simply to evade detection by savvy consumers online.  With the proliferation of VoIP, it's even easier for the crooks to stay a couple of steps ahead of law enforcement.  Below is just a sampling of the 30+ numbers that have been used in recent memory.

1-201-244-7722
1-209-349-7382
1-209-797-2212
1-212-500-0839
1-213-256-0408
1-213-995-3039
1-281-763-0433
1-347-289-3902
1-347-844-6817
1-347-844-6831
1-424-354-4270
1-516-232-8905
1-516-232-8935
1-518-212-0219
1-561-300-8018
1-561-210-4185
1-626-200-4646
1-631-456-4041
1-646-274-1143
1-646-810-8635
1-650-241-4604
1-707-401-4056
1-707-633-2789
1-708-401-0535
1-716-442-2824
1-717-862-4080
1-718-705-8669
1-760-514-0132
1-760-563-5384
1-772-318-4938
1-850-201-1111
1-858-777-1977
1-859-908-2281
1-866-860-4509
1-877-226-7488
1-888-706-7463
1-888-771-9249
1-888-785-4479
1-909-327-4870

So can they really do anything to you?

It's not a simple yes or no answer.  Logic dictates that, if they really wanted to take you for a ride and drain your bank accounts, they already would have.  

So, why haven't they?  

Authorization.  

Why do you think you are being called so much?  Perhaps it is because they like the sound of your voice?  No, they have to have your authorization to take any form of payment from you, period.  The callers know their audience, and that audience is typically a bunch of people that have applied for payday loans in the past.  Most of those people they call couldn't afford an attorney if they wanted one, and are so used to receiving collections calls that so long as they sound like a real collector, they will likely be perceived as one.

Furthermore, they don't even really want to talk to your attorney - that just sounds official and scary enough.  A real attorney would take the callers to task and write them off as two-bit con artists.  The callers need you, in writing, to authorize payment against the fictitious debt they claim you owe.  Go ahead, ask them for proof you owe the debt - more commonly known as verification of debt.  See what they say.  A phone authorization carries very little weight, so if they have something signed by you on file, you are done for - and the callers know that.  That authorization is the only thing these callers are doing by the book, and for good reason.  If they just went all willy nilly and made an ACH debit from your checking account, without your written approval, you could in turn report the transaction as fraudulent to your financial institution.  In about 7-10 business days, you would get the funds returned to your account.  Then the scammers would be up against a bank and their team of lawyers and investigators.  

Bottom line:

If you haven't paid the callers a dime, don't.  If you planned on paying them to shut them up, just don't.  Remember - you are not being contacted by a legally licensed, ethically owned and operated collector.  Read up on the FDCPA - http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf - and know your rights.

PS--The FBI sent out a Press Release on this scam just last week:

Extortion Scam Related to Delinquent Payday Loans

Washington, D.C.
December 07, 2010  FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

? filed under: Press Release

The Internet Crime Complaint Center has received many complaints from victims of payday loan telephone collection scams. Callers claim the victim is delinquent in a payday loan and must repay the loan to avoid legal consequences. The callers purport to be representatives of the FBI, Federal Legislative Department, various law firms, or other legitimate-sounding agencies. They claim to be collecting debts for companies such as United Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Net, and other Internet check-cashing services.

According to complaints received from the public, the callers have accurate data about victims, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, employer information, bank account numbers, and the names and telephone numbers of relatives and friends. How the fraudsters obtained the personal information varies, but in some cases victims have reported they completed online applications for other loans or credit cards before the calls started.

The fraudsters relentlessly call the victim?s home, cell phone, and place of employment. They refuse to provide any details about the alleged payday loans and become abusive when questioned. The callers have threatened victims with legal actions, arrests, and, in some cases, physical violence if they do not pay. In many cases, the callers harass victims? relatives, friends, and employers.

Some fraudsters have instructed victims to fax a statement agreeing to pay a certain amount, on a specific date, via a pre-paid Visa card. The statement further declares the victim will never dispute the debt.

If you receive these calls, do not follow the caller?s instructions. Rather, you should:

Notify your banking institutions.
Contact the three major credit bureaus and request an alert be put on your file.
Contact your local law enforcement agencies if you feel you are in immediate danger.
File a complaint at www.IC3.gov.
Tips to avoid becoming a victim of this scam:

Never give your Social Security number?or personal information of any kind?over the telephone or online unless you initiate the contact.
Be suspicious of any e-mail with urgent requests for personal financial information. The e-mail may include upsetting or exciting but false statements to get you to react immediately.
Avoid filling out forms in e-mail messages that request personal information.
Ensure that your browser is up-to-date and security patches have been applied.
Check your bank, credit, and debit card statements regularly to make sure that there are no unauthorized transactions. If anything looks suspicious, contact your bank and all card issuers.
When you contact companies, use numbers provided on the back of cards or statements

http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/paydayloanscam_120710

I too received a call from these people on my job and they are also calling my co-workers and telling them I have a legal complaint against me.  Who are these people?????  How do we stop them from this?  There is no way a legitimate corporation would disclose to someone other than the person they are calling that there is legal action on a person.  I am appalled and livid that these jerks are getting away with this!

Thick Indian accent, bad static on the line, the caller id came up incomplete with only 9 numbers instead of ten. I was able to decipher only parts of the call back number (212-1725) so it typed it in the google and saw this wonderful information. Also, I was able to gather something about legal action and department of investigation. He also changed my last name to Ashi.

The call I received showed only "51" on my caller id, so I did not answer.  After listening to the voicemail is was very hard to decipher with the thick Middle Eastern accent, but I got the same threat of have myself or an attorney call them or best of luck with the legal action that is going to befall me.  This guys did not identify what company he was calling from or why I have this pending legal action, that plus the previous posts makes me sure this is a scam.

selling solar panels.....

I just received a call from the number of 206-2121725.  The person identified themselves as being Officer Jones.  He spoke very broken english and seemed to have a strong indian accent.  He asked that I or my attorney return the call and if I didn't he could only wish me luck in the legal action that will soon befall me.  Needless to say, I have received numerous calls similar to this and each call comes from a different number.  They all pretty much state the same message and all are of indian accent.  Per my local sheriff office, this is a fraud.  NO NOT CALL THESE PEOPLE BACK OR OFFER TO PAY THEM ANY MONEY.  The only issue with this is that the calls are annoying.