Just recieved a phone call at my job from this number.  The person claimed to be an attorney...and when i started to question him, he got loud with me and proceeded to hang up in my face.  I don't have a payday loan and I'm not sure how they got MY WORK phone!  However, this is NOT legit!  I don't appreciate it, and I pray that no one else gets calls from these ignorant evil people.

DID ANYONE EVER COME TO PICK YOU UP, BECAUSE I GOT THE SAME CALL

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 just received a call from these people today as well.  First the so called attorney called me on a saturday morning at 9:00 am, then he called me three times thereafter.  I asked for paperwork regarding this and the representative started yelling at me and telling me that I would receive it tomorrow.  The supervisor then gets on the phone and tells me that I will be arrested and I have committed fraud etc. for a payday loan that I owed.  He then told me they sent me something to my e-mail address.   Well I have no records of this pay day loan that I so called took out and no other information whatsoever.  He told me I needed to pay over $1,000 today in order to rectify the situation or else.  after doing my research on this site, I called back and I asked to speak to Mr. Reed from reading other posts.  The rep put me on hold then came back and said that he is not available.  Then I said, "so there is a Mark Reed that works there?" he said yes, but he is unavailable right now.  Everyone that I spoke to had a thick accent and I couldn't understand their broken english.  I called back again and told the rep that I will be contacting my local authorities and the FBI and that they are scamming people out of their money and trying to make me pay something that I have no record of evening having a debt for.  He started yelling at me and saying a bunch of crap to me.  They try to scare you in thinking that they are going to "get" you and throw you in jail! I was very nervous as I never experienced anything like this before.. but thanks so much for the posts from all of you! If it wasn't for this site, I probably would have never known and been scammed!!

Best,

ASB

I received a phone call today at work from telemarkers number 213-799-2204 individual stating his name was Mark Reed, demanding that I pay 1200 + $ immed. or it will cost me more cause today would be the last day the contact me before it goes to court, that I was in troulbe for writing false checks ( in which I never did, he stated he came from an old account with a date after I had closed this account out.  Once I caught them  in the scam I than called them on it and they began to talk profanity unrealistic to me. Again another sign this is not a real attorney office.  I than informed him that we are contacting our local authorties and filing a FBI report.

The same thing happened to me and my husband a few months ago and today it happened to my friend at work.

I recieved a call today at my home from some one named Joseph Dezuza (as well as somone named Jacob & Daniel) from this number & 213-550-4451.  They informed me that my mom had taken out a loan in 2007 & they needed to collect over $1500.  Said that court was scheduled for 11 tomorrow morning & that someone would pick me up then (ie the police).  I told them that I knew nothing about this debt. I told them that if they would fax me the information, I would be happy to look it over, but I was not paying anything. They had my moms name, her previous employment, my name, my brothers name & where we banked.  They proceeded to get angry, saying things like fire in the hole. When I asked them to quit playing games, they proceeded to mash several numbers on the phone & said I was ready for round two.  Then it proceeded into being vulgar.  The gentleman was simulation masterbation & kept asking me to call his name.  It was horrible.  Does anyone know what we need to do to get this stopped & bring criminal Charges against this group of fools????

I have been receiving calls from this company.  Ive had calls like this before from different companies. They all sound the same. I tell them i have never taken out any pay day loans. It dosent stop them from calling. Im told i will be arrested the next morning if i don't show up for court at 11 the next day. I tell them ok guerss ill have to go to jail then! This nonsense has to stop!

Have bee receiving calls at my place of employment for weeks from this number threatening to arrest me. They have all my information ss # banking info residence. WTH how do I make these scam artists stop.

I received the same phone call for the same reason and from the same law office. I deeply concerns me that these people have my work, home and cell number. I to have never received a payday loan. I am however concerned of what other information they may have on me. What is wrong with this world.

I have been receiving calls from this number and the person Chad (did'nt get name) Parker told me that i will be arrested in the morning as I had hung up on them previously.

I just got a message from a Calvin Parker.  He said to call them back immediately and made threats on my voice mail.  I called back and got a Jacob Jonathan.  He said he was calling from the law firm of William and Scott Associates and a case had been downloaded against me.  He said it was for Quick Payday, a national bank(?).  He said he wanted the name of my atty.  I have never had a payday loan.  He said I would be arrested at my house tomorrow.  He refused to give me the address and told me to google it...which I had already done.  There is no law firm with that name.  lol  What a joke.  I reported it to the state atty general.

I recieved a call from mark reed and they said i owed money for a pay day loan. I told them that i have never done such a thing and they said that i will be arrested in the morning at my work. i told to them to go ahead and i would sue them and they hung up. I called back and they said they had all my information ss number banking acct number. Do not answer from these people if you do report them to your local authorities.

I just received what will be my third phone call of the day to my work telephone. Where the gentleman who called asked for my co-worker who is not tied to my phone line at work in any way shape or form. I advised the gentleman that I had already received a phone call from him or someone from this number on my cell phone and it was a total scam. I advised him that I was contacting my local authorities and he became very angry. He informed me that I was going to stick his dick in my mouth and that he was going to (excuse my language) f*** me. He asked for my name and I said I did not have to give it and he continued with the inappropriate commentary. I advised him that if he was a legitimate law firm or collection company he would not use that language. He continued and I terminated the call. I have contacted my local authorities.

I received a call from the this afternoon while at work. They stated I had a payday loan with Quik Cash.com and that they were filing a complaint against me for check fraud and unpaid debt. I told them I hadn't used Quik Cash before, and that I believed it was a scam. They then were really rude and hung up on me. I called back and wished to speak with a supervisor. He then informed me that if I did not appear in court at 11am tomorrow morning they were going to have an officer arrest me at my place of employment. I asked them for documentation and they refused to give that to me. They had my social security number, banking information, place of employment, and home address. This is a scam. I will be going to my local police department in order to file a complaint and flagging my banking account.

I received a call today from the above number once at my work number where they did not leave a number and once on my cell phone number where they did leave a message asking me to call someone named Sam Clark back. They had a very thick accent. I phoned the number back immediately and they transferred me to someone who said their name was Mark Reed. This person also had a thick accent but did speak better english then "Sam" who left me the message to call back. They advised that they were calling from at attorney's office by the name of Williams & Scott and they were coming after me for unpaid payday loans. I advised that I had no payday loans and never had and they needed to provide me with the necessary paperwork and information of these so called unpaid loans. The call was disconnected.  I called back and reached Mark Reed again and he said he was not going to send me anything. I advised that if this was a legitimate debt I was entitled to the information but I told him I was aware of his scam and would be reporting him to the authorities and he told me not to call him back and for me to go to hell. I said well this just confirms that you are a scam artist because if you were a legitimate collector you would provide me with documentation of the debt and would not tell me never to call back or to go to hell you would work with me to rectify the debt. I have reported this number to my local authorities.