Does anyone know who this is?

They call and just pull a number out of the air. I had the police out to listen to a message they left on my machine. They have had several complaints in my area. They get our info from cards we fill out to win a frre truck trip etc.  Do not fill out anything anywhere the info winds up all over the world. The police say they are Nigerian accents.

this is very god guy some body try to puit a rong coment agints him hi is trying realy help us
210-399-7010

For some unknown reason I have become the targert of a group of Middle Easterners running a phone scam. Telling me that I am involved in a lawsuit and to stay out of court for a reduced amount of money. You ask them to send you the paper work and they hangup. They change their name every week.

I was called by the 210-399-7010 number when I was living in Texas a couple months ago, asking about a friend of mine I worked with who took out a loan and I was put in as his reference. Same story, guy with middle eastern accent, sounded like he was in the middle of new york city traffic telling me that my friend was being investigated for fraud and that I should let him know, but any questions i asked went unanswered or avoided. Today i receive a call from that number again now telling me that "Chris Mavrick" took out 3 loans and is being investigated for fraud. Funny thing is, Chris Mavrick is my stage name and I definitely wouldn't have taken out a loan under a fake name that has no ID. So my alias is a fraud?

Thankfully, i looked up this number on google and found this site. Thanks to "The Saint" for clearing up exactly what has happened. I just want to know how they got my info, as I've never even applied for a loan.

The same telephone number 210 399 7010 has called me today and also another company in Wyoming called me saying this is cashadvance america and they stated that i borrowed a loan and i never borrowed a loan and at the time i wasnt working to apply for a loan and they stated that if i dont pay them back they will prosecute me and send me to court, they are rude, disrepectful I Dont know how these people got my information.

hello hillary this is kesh i have read your statement and i also had numerous calls from the same people who have been harrassing my phone, they threatned to have me prosecuted and they were gonna take me to court, i contacted business bureau and they stated that the people were scammers and they call people to get personal information out of them.

Hilary....you really cant make them stop even if you go to the law its very hard,,,,but what you can do is..
when they threatening to arrest you...laugh and i mean laugh out loud then say your an idiot you cant be arrested for a civil matter...this makes them upset
when they say there going to your job..then ask them who do i work for and where do i work...
and even if they give you the right info..then you say have fun because i don't work there anymore and laugh again..
bottom line is they see that they are not upsetting you and your upsetting them and the phone calls will stop it will take awhile but have some fun getting them upset.
by the way if this is a payday loan there is 15 states where a payday loan is illegal and what that means for you all you have to pay back is the original amount you borrowed you dont have to pay any of the INTEREST.....if they ask you if you knew it was illegal then why did you borrow monies...you say i didn't know it was illegal until just now.
go to ask.com type in what states are illegal for a payday loan...i hope you live in one of those states..
don't panic the law is on your side and they know it but they will lie and use scare tactics on you and when they realize there scare tactics isn't going to work then they will accept the original amount..
if i was you i would call the payday loan people and let them know that the debt collection company is accepting the original amount or get it in writing from them that all you have to pay is the original amount

I have received numerous calls at my work threating me to pay an uppaid payday loan or else a legal case worked will come to my work and speak with my supervisor and I will be fired and arrested if I dont pay this immediately.


How do I make them stop???

They are calling me telling me that are going to arrest me tomorrow.  I owe 499.00  from a company that doesn't exist.....When I pressured them for info they hung up on me...I kept calling them back and they cussed me out and hung up again...I kept calling them trying to find out how they got my number and info and they kept cussing me and hanging up on me....That is when I got on here and find out they do this often to others...

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.

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

I got a phone call with the same message - "that I  was in big trouble"....I hung up on the guy and of course he calls back and leaves a vm which sounded like he was in the middle of traffic and I could not understand a single thing he said.  I am so tired of these people calling! You always ask them why are they calling and they won't give you any info or fax you anything. All they do is make threats and scream at you! I am changing my cell phone number I can't take it anymore!!!

These people called my work and cell phone saying that I was "in big trouble" if I didn't give them a payment over the phone.  I asked them what company they were calling on behalf of and the person over the phone stated that it didn't matter, just that I would face tons of legal and court fees if I didn't hand them over my payment information.  They also asked how much I owed.  They threatened me with a voicemail saying that they had my birthdate, ss#, work info, and that they could make life miserable for me.

Well, they are.  If they seriously don't stop calling...

I don't know how to make them stop!!

Who are these people and how do they have my personal info?  They are rude, screaming at me and not really say who I owe or how much other than if I don't pay up they will pursue legal action inculding sending p/w and the cops to my place of employment.  How do I get to them to stop calling me???????????

These people claim to be from American Payday Loan and that you owe them money.  They offer to settle with you on the phone or face legal action.  They apparently are a scam as I never heard of them and do not owe them money.  They will call and hound you, though.