john
this number 213-289-3810 called my employer and kept calling me saying he had the police dept on thier way to arrest me, would not answer my questions, i thought it was a scam and then i googled it to find to my surprise it wasnt just me it was alot of people who have been scammed.
this embarrassed me and pissed me off!!!!!!!

this number called me after (707) 666-7433 called stating i owe a debt or have criminal charges pending for money laundering...he then called from 3digit numbers & when i went off saying you got my info from online & to stop calling me - he yelled at me & said he'll call every minute...he called 15times in 15mins...how annoying!!!!!

I received a call from a heavily accented Indian man today, who was calling for one of our employees that works here, he said he was a debt collector. I answer all incoming phone calls, so I transferred him to the person he was asking for, and when she didn't answer he called right back and asked again for that person. After he got no answer from her extension (again) he then called back again and this time said "I want to talk to you now". I said "Okay sir, how can I help you?" He said "Don't call me sir...I'm just a young guy and I want to be your friend." I said "Sir, how can I help you? Please tell me what you need!" and he said "I want to know what time you get off work so we can be friends." I then instructed him NEVER to call our office again, and hung up. He hasn't called back, but after reading this forum, it gives me a very uneasy feeling knowing what kind of person this man is and that has my co-workers information. This guy is a creep for sure!

I too recieved a message from this number today 7:35 a.m....strange time.

I couldn't fully understand the thick Indian accent speaking what was clearly a scripted monologue, but was able to make out "all he can do is wish me good luck because the consequences would land soley on me" due to another person's post.    

I have recently applied for on-line for a pay-day loan and see that this has caused problems...not good :(

213-289-3810 had called my work saying that if i did not call them back i would be in serious trouble. When I got home i had someone call them for me saying that that police would be coming to arrest me because they had a file against me.

I have been called several times from this number and threatened with jail time and all sorts of things. Once she even told me, may God have mercy on my soul...

I am an administrator at an office and received a call from a "Mike Donavan" who stated he was with the LA Sheriff's Department and needed to speak to one of the workers at my company.  When I told them I could take a message and pass it along as our staff did not work in the office this man instructed me that if the person he called for did not call back immediately he was going to forward his case and that he'd be locked up behind bars and would probably lose his job.  

Being very skeptical, I took his name and number and upon "Googling" it found this site with many complaints.  I will not pass this message onto my co-worker, who has limited English speaking skills and have him taken advantage of by this scammer.  Thank you all for posting!

Phantom Debt Collectors From India Harass Americans, Demand Money

By BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) , CINDY GALLI and MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk)
June 7, 2012

Hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped Americans have been targeted by abusive debt collectors operating out of overseas call centers suspected of links to organized crime in India, law enforcement officials told ABC News.

The calls are part of a massive scam, one that appears to target struggling Americans -- especially those who have gone online to apply for payday loans. Armed with personal information from those pilfered applications, the threatening callers, who claim to be debt collectors poised to initiate legal action, have managed to pry loose millions of dollars from their victims -- even when the victims never owed money in the first place.

"This is what we call a phantom debt collection scam," said Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. "It's a very pernicious and innovative new fraud."

Working through call centers in India, the commission estimates that the criminals have dialed at least 2.5 million calls, persuading already cash-strapped victims to send them more than $5 million. Some have reported receiving dozens of calls per hour. They are victims like Cindy Gervais, of New Orleans, who went online for a quick loan when her husband's car was hit by a driver who didn't have insurance.

Even though she paid the loan off, the so-called "phantom" debt collectors with Indian accents began calling to say she still owed money.

He more or less told me that if I didn't pay, they were going to have someone on my doorstep to arrest me," she told ABC News. "And that they were going to contact my place of business, and tell them what kind of person I am."

At first, she said she resisted. Then the calls became more frequent, and started to ring on her cell phone, and at the grocery distribution company where she had worked for 27 years.

"I was more or less was in panic mode because he told me there would be someone before noon at my place of business to arrest me and take me to jail," she said tearfully. "So I agreed to pay him."

After receiving scores of complaints, investigators with the FTC said they began tracking the calls, and following the payments. They alleged the payments led them to a California company run by an Indian-American named Kirit Patel, and that such scams would not be possible without American front men.

"I would say that all roads of this scam, or many of the roads of this scam, lead back to Mr. Patel," said the FTC's Leibowitz.

ABC News tracked Patel for weeks, from the suburbs of San Francisco to Austin, Texas.

Patel refused to talk. But his lawyer, Mark Ellis, said he believes it is far too early to pass judgment on his client. Ellis, a Sacramento-based attorney, told ABC News that Patel was hired for a nominal fee to set up an American shell company, and had no idea what the call centers in India were doing.

"I can tell you, he was as snookered by the people in India as anybody," Ellis said. "He's a 69-year-old man who is nearing his retirement who thought all he had to do was set up some corporations and everything was on the up and up. He's completely dismayed that he has become the lightning rod of this entire problem."

A close friend of Patel's also defended him in a brief interview at his home, saying Patel was not trying to defraud anyone -- he was just an unwitting, bit player in a larger scheme.

"If Mr. Patel was just a cog in the wheel he seems to have been a pretty big cog," Leibowitz said. "It is clear that Patel was integrally involved with this scam."

Leibowitz points to thousands of pages of financial and phone records gathered by the FTC and filed as part of a civil case brought against him in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento last month. When FTC lawyers sought to freeze his assets and prevent his business from continuing to operate, Patel responded by invoking his rights against self-incrimination. His lawyer told ABC News he has had to be careful in how he responds to the allegations in civil court "because there is a potential criminal action," but that Patel maintains the allegations against him are false.

Federal investigators said the phantom debt collection operation that allegedly benefitted from Patel's assistance was one of several that all trace back to the same small town in Western India called Ahmedabad. Callers use technology to make it appear that the calls originate inside the U.S. Victims provided ABC News with recordings of dozens of the calls, and many of the thickly accented callers appear to be reading off a script.

"Subpoenas have been readied, and Monday morning you're going to be picked up from your home," one caller says on a victim's voicemail. "And you have children. Don't worry about your children. We have a childcare department to take care of the children."

"You will be behind bars for six months," said another caller. "And once you go behind bars, you will lose your job. Once you are behind the bars, you won't get a single drop of water."

William Peerce Howard, a Tampa attorney who represents victims of harassment from debt collectors, said it takes an especially twisted criminal to use threats and coercion to pry money from someone who is already struggling financially

"These guys really are the most visible villains in America today," he said. "They make a living scaring people."

Mark Merola, of Florida, said he just panicked when the caller told him he might be arrested at the deli where he works in a Florida retirement community.

"I was nervous. I didn't want to embarrass myself, my family," he said. He used his debit card to pay the collector $576.

Afterwards, he says he realized "how stupid I was."

"It just happened so fast," he said. "I got scared."

Leibowitz said he hopes with more attention, future potential targets of the scam will recognize red flags before they turn over any money.

If callers say they are from the police, consumers should know that law enforcement officers do not collect debt for private parties. If the caller is speaking with a thick Indian accent, but calls themselves by a names such as Officer Mike Johnson, that should be a tip off. And if they're calling 40 times in two hours, that's another red flag. "Legitimate debt collectors, legitimate pay day lenders don't do those sorts of things," he said.

Merola said he would like to see anyone involved in the scam prosecuted aggressively.

"There's no place in society for these people," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 16512428&page=2

Lady  (India decent) call over and over again, this stuff needs to be investigated and they need to go to jail. They are scammers trying to get money from you. Just hang up on them, they get very upset so let them. Don't call them back.

Received the same call! Very rude and scary voice message left. Stated if I didn't call back, all he can do is wish me good luck because the consequences would land soley on me. Yeah like I would return a call like that!

I have received the same call as above only thing is they are harassing my job they don't even call my own personal phone.  I have talked to the California sheriffs office they said it was a scam.  I reported it to the local sheriffs in my town they haven't heard anything about it.  It is scary because I don't even know what the supposed charges are about.

Called and stated they were from California attorneys office as well.  Would not provide any information as to what the case was about and would not let me speak to supervisor.  Needless to say I called the sheriffs office in my local area and they hadn't heard anything, so I called the man back which led into a heated arguement once I stated I was recording the conversation.  End of conversation led to myself being called a female dog (in nice terms) as he was screaming it at the top of his lungs.  I ended the call.  Scary tho cause they have my address.  He stated it to me when he said the cops were coming to get me.

This phone number called me in North Carolina claiming that they were the California State Attorney's Office. They claimed that I needed to call a number in order to keep my warrant from being reported to the local Sheriff.  Called the California Sheriff Headquarters and they confirmed that it was a scam.