Calling and threatening my son is a big no-no

I got the same call with the same odd voice and the same type of message (telling me or my attorney to call immediately). I found out the number was from www.mycashnow.com which is a payday loan place. I have gotten payday loans in the past. When I went to the website to check my account, I do not have any lingering payday loans. I agree with everyone else. Do not give this person money. If you're concerned, you could call the company's 800 number that is on their website but I definitely would not talk to this guy.

Not sure, they call me all the time, are you getting calls too tomis?

I n eed to know whats going on

I just got a phone call from these people stating they were from a law firm.  They were going to down load my information by 5:00 today and then they were sending me to court.  I am in the situation where I have outstanding payday loans and I'm barely in a position to keep my lights on let alone payback online debts.  I'm really scared that these people are sending me to court.  The first call was from a Cathy Rogers and her threatening voicemail is why I called back immediately.  they had all my personal information.  They said that they were from the mother of all online debt collections and they would really make my life horrible if I didn't pay.  Please help

I received a call stating they were with the Auborn Law Firm (sounded like the call center in India from Slum Dog Millionaire).  Saying I was being sued because I was listed as a co-signer.  I told the man that if I was being sued, I wanted the other defendants names, case number, what court it was filed with and the Plantiff information.  He told me he could not provide that.  I hung up.

I also received a call from someone with a heavy accent.  If they call back I will ask for proof

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

Well thankfully it's not just me. Just got the call today, called the police and my bank as well as the payday company I owe just to confirm. As soon as I mention the police to these people we miraculously get disconnected and they say "Don't threaten us!" They really have some nerve. My only concern is them getting into my account somehow but I guess if they don't have my information they wouldn't. They claimed to be the United States Federal something, saying that they are the mother company for pay day loans. As everybody says don't give them any money and don't give them any information about yourself.

I would like to report this number. They are calling my mother's house harrassing me and trying to say that I owe them money. If I was dumb I might would have fallen for it but since I know what I do and don't do I did not fall for it but instead called and asked questions. If anything can be done about this then it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Well here is some information about this phone number.  This was the first time that they called me so I called them back.  They just asked for my phone number and transfer me around.  The guy that I talked to stated that I placed a loan with US Fast Cash which I did.  And they stated that I still owe money to this company and that I need to pay before I am sent to court for the amount.  I informed them that the account was paid in full and they had the information from my bank account, but just the last digits and that they would make a report to the company for me.  I called the company and asked them about the loan and they stated that it was paid in full and they stated that it was a scam and they have reported this to the cops and the cops are looking for these people.  Just FYI this is a scam and to get them to stop calling you inform them that the account is paid in full and you will report this to the company and the police.  They will stop their calling at that point.

I received a call from this phone number. They called my work phone and they also tried contacting a friend of mine. I did not catch the name of the first person that actually called me, but he was giving me inaccurate information about a supposed payday loan. He claimed to be a paralegal from an attorney's office and was making all kinds of threats including: filing a fraud charge against me, jail time, fines up to $8000, my ssn will be black listed, they will report my crime to my employer, etc, if I do not make an immediate payment of almost double what I owed. When I was given inaccurate information I asked to speak with one of the attorneys and the person who came on the line stated his name was Jack Marshall. Both people sounded like they were in a call center and had a strong accent. I contacted the company that I have the agreement with and they advised that they had never turned my information over to an attorney and that this is a scam.

The supposed attorney office is that of Alex Matthews. I too got two threatening voicemails from "Thomas" who also sounded like he was driving though a tunnel. When I demanded to speak to a superior, I spoke to Alex Matthews who said the debt was with US Cash Advance (to which I never took out a payday loan). The website does not have any method to contact the company nor is it done to be navigated by any human being. Back to the call: Alex wanted me to fax him a statement stating that I owed $225 and that I would purchase a prepaid debit card to repay this debt. Nowhere do I owe $225 and why would a prepaid debit card be asked of me? I had 25 missed calls from them today. I finally called them back and gave them a piece of my mind. If they want to sue me for a loan I never took out, GO FOR IT! I DARE YOU! They are horrible people who try to scare and scam hardworking people. I reported the number to donotcall.gov and filed a complaint. DO NOT FALL FOR THIS!!!

This guy called again and I was where I could answer. This time he is "Thomas". I asked what he was needing and he said my information so that he could sue me? I asked what was I being sued for and he said a payday loan, which I have never gotten. I asked when this was supposed to have taken place and he said March 2010. I told him it was illegal to call and tell someone over the phone that and there was a paper trail that had to be in place before suing anyone and he needed to send me something in writing and I would give that to my attorney. Needless to say, he hung up on me!!

Same thing.  Thomas Wright is who he claimes to be.  Left a very threatening message and just to clear the air up.... I WILL ONLY PAY AMERICANS money so if you are a debt collector and I owe you money, you damn well better have an associate who speaks proper English.

go online to FBI and you can sent e-mails explaining the phone calls and continued harrassment. FBI said they cannot do much about it but maybe if everyone reported them the FBI would be overwhelmed with complaints and they would be forced by public opinion to do something.  These people are searching to obtain more confidential information from you -- anything that you will be willing to provide to them over the phone since most people are scared when they receive these calls and will provide any information in hopes to send them away.  Once they get your information, then they will be able to obtain your identity fraudulently and do whatever they want with it.  They have called me three times today alone both from this phone # and another 516 area code.  I swear its the same funny foreign voice.  You would think they are tired of me hanging up on me, but they are very persistant.

I just received a call from this number and I had a very threatenting voicemail from some foreigner. He instructed me or my attorrney to call him back asap or there would be consequences! He said to either call or he wanted to wish me good luck!! No legitimate creditor is going to call and leave a message like that!! I called to confront this guy and first time, the call did not go through. Second time, I got a message system. Now if this is someone that people owe money to, they would not be answering their phone with a message. The guy identified himself as "Mike". Not a pleasant man. Please do not give this person any money.

These people have been calling my wife a few times a day. A heavily accented foreign man demanded that her or her attorney call them back or she can press her luck as the consequences fall around her. We tried calling them back to ask them what this concerned. They informed my wife that we defaulted on a pay day loan. We asked them what company? They put her on hold and left her there for 5 minutes before she hung up. I admit that we have used some pay day loans in the past. But if anyone is familiar with most modern pay day loan companies they usually automatically deduct the money from your checking account electronically.
This screams of a scam to get money from people.
Does anyone have idea of the name or any other info about these people?

DO NOT PAY THESE PEOPLE MONEY...It is a foreighn scam saying you owe them money and you have to pay right now or you will be taken to court. They are simply just trying to scare americans out of going to court and paying them money. The people that called me said that I took out a loan that I have no record of on my bank statements and they told me that it wouldn't show up on my statements and I told them B***S***.

DO NOT FALL FOR THIS!

He calls me all the time, calls my work and my cell # from a variety of phone numbers. I wish I knew how to report him. If anybody can tell me what I need to do, I would appreciate it. It's insane that anybody can get away with this. And really, what do they hope to gain? I am in a situation where I do have some outstanding debt and I fear this person has gotten ahold of my credit report, but [unfortunately] I do know what a legitimate collection call is, and I certainly have no intention of responding to this man.

I just recieved a phone call from a foreign man telling me I better call back and that I better call back. That it better be me or my attorney calling back. He said his name was mike. wow it was a pretty threatning message

This # has called me several times and I have not answered as I don't know the #. Today a very foreign sounding man called my husband's cell phone, which I never give as my # as we just got married a month ago.
He said if I did not call him back he would put a body attachment on me. I believe he is with the same company or people who have called left messages about a matter with my checking account and there is nothing on or with my checking account. I am sure this is a scam. I believe these people prey on those with less than perfect credit thinking they will not know for sure if they do or don't owe these monies. Beware of these people.

I got a call from a very foreign speaking man - could not understand who he was asking for but would not hang up and was telling me my number was what he was looking for! very anxious an angry so I hung up on him. later my sister called and said man was calling and harrassing her and husband! he would not identify himself, just that they owed him money and he was taking them to court! would never identify name or company he was representing.