I just received a call from 214-618-5898 saying they were going to arrest me if I didn't pay $1500.00. I work in collections...#1. I've NEVER seen a person arrested over a debt and #2, they did not id themselves as debt collectors which is illegal and #3. they wouldn't fax me anything to verify the debt, DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR PAYMENT INFO

I received two calls from this number saying it was first a law firm then the financial crimes center. It's a call center in India running a scam

I received a call a couple of weeks ago, that was similar to this.  It was a guy who spoke with a heavy accent.  He said his name of "Officer Sam Nelson" I took out a payday loan in March 2008 and it is past due.  He called one of my references and cursed him out due to the fact he could not give out personal information.  I freaked out at first because I thought I did something illegal, but I figured this was some kind of scam because he claimed he was from Financial Crimes Division and I looked on the website and that company does not exist! He has my social security # and my address and he claims that he has my legal case file! If you get a call like this report it immediately because this is a scam! Do not give out any bank account info!

telling me I have a case pending with the court and he is trying to help

Someone from this # called me at work and stated that I took out a PAYDAY loan online back in 2006 from US National Bank.  I asked the person to whom I was speaking with could I have the name & # to someone at US NATIONAL BANK that I could speak to.  The person in whom I was speaking with started yelling at me sayin NO NO NO

i have begun receiving calls from this number (214-618-5898) w/in the last week or so.  They have been calling my work, extended family and home numerous times per day and saying that i owed them 1200.00 from a payday loan.  i don't even know what a payday loan is and i have surely never taken one out.  The accent was clearly from India.  they threaten to arrest me and throw me in jail.  i have reported this to the FBI and the FTC.  the phone calls as of yet have not stopped and i fear they won't.  They call numerous different people at my work and they tell them they need to speak to me it is an emergency.  then they say to me if i don't pay them they will see me in court and may God have mercy on me.  Someone needs to take this seriously and stop these people - I read where one women paid them 3400.00 and they kept asking for more and got more viscious - this is wrong!

how do you report them, they are calling me at work!!!

I just received a call from this number at work.  They said that I had taken a payday loan out on July of 2005 and that the out of court restitution would be 1913.60.  They said they were with the US National Bank FInancial Division and a legal case had been filed with me.  He gave me a case number and everything.  He said he couldn't give out any information because I was on a federally recorded line.  If I didn't pay by today at 5:30 the case would be downloaded to the court system and the cops would be pick me up within 2 days.  They had all my information and even called my brother who has an unlisted number.  Please be aware that this is a scam.  Report them immediately.

This guy just called me at work, saying his name was Alex Cooper and gave 214-618-5898 to call back.  These people have been calling me every so often, but only at work.  The last time I talked with them, I told them my lawyer would contact them and I wanted paperwork faxed to me, they never faxed anything.

I just filed a complaint as well. I just had a bankruptcy discharged in June so I know there is no such place. He left me a voicemail and told me that "pray for God to have mercy on me"

I filed an online crime tip report with the FBI.  It's a scam.  Bottom line and they are using the telephone as a means of harassment and threats.

I keep getting the same type of calls. Including they tell my receptionis it is an emergency, thier MOTHER needs to talk with me, etc...they leave the number and say they are from US NATIONAL Bank but when I call them back they WILL NOT say who they are. They say they are with the crime division...etc... I finally turned the information over to the FTC and EVERY TIME they call I call the FTC back. I also told them explicitly to NEVER CALL MY OFFICE AGAIN.
They would not let me have an address or anything ... just told me I have a serious Debt that must be cleared. I quit talking to them and just yell at them now. LOL

I rec a call from Sam Dunken stating that I owe money and need to pay it or I am going to jail.  He had my ss# so I gave him half of the money that he was asking for, now he is consintly calling me telling me it is in my best interest to call him.

Mr Daniel Stewart
Has been calling me on my cell phone a numerous occasions at all times of the week.  In regards to a past due online payday loan done in 1/2006.  He continued telling me that if I did not pay I will be sorry that my case will be downloaded into the court system.  I had until 5pm today to 7/15/2008 to pay the amount of $2549.50 or I will suffer the consequences.  This person had all my personal information and social number.  He would not give me any information regarding the origional transaction that took place in 2006.  DO NOT GIVE HIM ANY INFO.  THIS A SCAM FROM INDIA.

I have received dozens of calls at work and at home from this number (actually, the number that comes up on my caller ID is 183-254-6128), when they do leave a message, they tell me to call them at 214-618-5898.  They claim to be representing US National Bank and claim that I took out a payday loan through this bank in 2005 that I did not repay and that I now owe $1400.  I have never heard of US National Bank and have no knowledge of any payday loans being taken out in 2005 in my name.

I received the same call, it's from India and it's a scam, please remember that a legitamite collections call will leave an 800 number.

For those who were harrassed earlier in the year, how long did it take them to stop calling and what did you do to get them to stop?  I am having this problem now & I don't want them calling my employer of relatives.

See my message above for more information on this scam and how to report them to federal and state law enforcement.

By the way, the West Virginia Attorney General recently issued a press release warning consumers about this scam. Here's the link:  http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm

keep getting the same call from Ethan Hunt-saying I owe for payday loans from 2006 from a company e-mail that I had worked at but has been out of business since 2005

Brain Schmidt keeps calling me making the same statements also and he says he is from Financial crimes protection and I owe money and he is trying to help me

I keep getting calls from this number stating that I owe money and that he is trying to help me from the case that is pending he keeps saying that I owe money and that I will be taken away if I don't pay it and that I will loose my job

Voice mail from this number using the name Jeff Stiffler.  Am not going to return the call.

They called my job and asked my coworker to have me call regarding an important legal matter.

Got a call on my answering machine from this number, using the name Brian Schmidt.  Making the same statements as already listed.  Not calling them back of course.  No company and no caller ID.

It's a scam. And all their threats are false and illegal.

ABC News just did a report on this particular scam. Here's the link to the report:  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1

This is a very active group of scammers, many of whom are calling from India (and probably other countries) and are in cahoots with a group of American pay day loan scammers. They attempt to extort money from consumers with a myriad of false and illegal threats, and alternately pose as debt collectors, federal and state law enforcement officers, lawyers and bankers. Their trademark is to use meaningless legalese gobbylgook phrases like "We are downloading warrants against you" or "We are filing an affidavit against you." Another trademark phrase is to threaten the consumer with something like this ridiculous phrase: "If you don't pay then only God can help you."

Typical of many financial scams of this variety, they usually demand payment via Western Union or MoneyGram or credit card. They use any number of phony names such as US National Bank, Federal Investigation Bureau, US Legal Investigation Bureau, Hopkins Law Office, United Legal Processing, Morgan Associates, United Pay Services, National Processing, White Collar Crime Unit, Sonic Bank, Impact (or Interactive) Business Marketing and many more.  These criminals also use many phone numbers from many area codes; they're probably using caller-id spoofing software and/or VoIP to disguise their real location.

The main thing to remember is that anytime someone calls you demanding money to prevent your arrest, or demanding your lawyer's name so they can sue you, it is ALWAYS a scam. No debt collector (let alone criminals posing as debt collectors) has the authority to have anyone arrested for anything. (And it's illegal to them to threaten such a thing.) And since these foreign dirtbags routinely impersonate law enforcement, it's also important to remember that American law enforcement officers aren't in the business of debt collection.  (Debt is a civil, not a criminal, matter.)

The bottom line is, these are criminals trying to steal your money.

A consumer posting a complaint about these same scammers at http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157 notes that 718-831-7157 is associated with an India-based "outsourcing" telephone bank.  Though a reverse search on WhitePages.com shows that 718-831-7157 is an unlisted land line in New York City, information on Debtbuyers.Com shows that that number is used by India-based Intellisourze. (Source: http://www.debtbuyers.com/debtbuyers.asp ) My guess is that it's a VoIP phone number.

This is another piece of the puzzle that fits in perfectly with other information about this scam. There are some reports on 800Notes that have suggested that the crooks behind this offshore scam are also the crooks behind the notorious Bass/Ellis Crosby & Assoc./States Predisposition scams in Florida and Georgia. The interesting thing is that the number of complaints on here about the US National Bank/US Legal Investigation/Federal Investigation scam skyrocketed *after* April 7, 2008 when Florida obtained a $1.3 million judgment against Ted Ellis Crosby, shutdown his operations and barred him from ever conducting debt collections in Florida (Read http://myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsrel ... 5257424005858A6 ) There's certainly a good chance that the crooks placing these calls from India are doing so on behalf of the American crooks behind the Crosby/Bass/States Predisposition scams.

Here's the contact information for the phone bank in India:

IntellisOurzE BPO
701, Sapphier, Nr. Cargo Motors,
C.G. Road Navrangpura,
Ahmedabad - 9. (Guj.) INDIA.
E-Mail: info@intellisourze.com
Website: www.intellisourze.com

A check on the domain name "intellisourze.com" shows that the website and name registration was created on May 8, just one month *after* the Crosby scams were shut down in Florida:

Domain Name: INTELLISOURZE.COM
Registrant:  Pragra Infratech Pvt. Limited.
Email:  ankur.ranpariya@pragra.com    
908, Aksaht Tower, Nr. ICICI Bank
Opp. Rajpath Club, S.G. Highway
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India 380054
Tel. +91.7926871353
Creation Date: 08-May-2008
Expiration Date: 08-May-2009
Domain servers in listed order: ns5.znetindia.com ns4.znetindia.com
(Source: http://whois.domaintools.com/intellisourze.com )

Though scam calls from these crooks have been going on long before May 8, the frequency of complaints about these calls increased considerably after Crosby was shut down in early April.

This is conjecture, but appearances suggest that Crosby and company were originally running a two-pronged payday loan scam operation -- with some calls being made from Jacksonville, Florida and other calls being made from a phone bank in India (and possibly other countries); then, after the Florida Attorney General shut down the Crosby scams in Florida, the Crosby crooks transferred most of their scam efforts to the India phone bank.

If you are targeted by these criminals, be sure to report them to all the following federal and state law enforcement agencies (most of which you can do online or over the phone):

1) The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for protecting the country's financial infrastructure and payment systems from international and domestic threats. Call or write your local Secret Service field office to alert them to the details of this attempted extortion. The addresses and phone numbers for the local Secret Service field offices are listed at http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml or in your phone book.

2) Alert the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  Be sure to tell the FBI that you are being targeted by extortionists over the phone. And if the crooks claim to be law enforcement or lawyers, officers of the court or bankers, be sure to include that information in your report.

3) File a complaint with your local police. Most police departments will take a report over the phone.  Be sure to tell them that you're being targeted by an extortionist and give them all the details.

4) File a complaint your state's attorney general, the contact information for whom is at www.naag.org

5) File a complaint online with The Federal Trade Commission at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en

If these crooks call back, promise them nothing, pay them nothing and tell them nothing other than that you know they're a scam and that you've reported them to law enforcement. (And be sure to report them to all the agencies above each time they call you.)

By the way, here's just a small sample of numbers used by this particular group of scammers. Read the reports and you'll see the same pattern time and again -- phony organization names, thick foreign accents, and oddly worded threats that are so melodramatic and ridiculous that it's laughable:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-925-262-1327
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-678-954-6346
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-341-4004
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-856-831-0640
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1140
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-410-505-8128
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-917-464-2534
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-210-858-6602
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-775-2121
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1156
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-1402
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-0922
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-723-5572
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2863
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2857
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-858-244-0444

I received a call from the Criminal investigating Division of US National Bank.  The guy who called himself Brian Smith told me I needed to pay him or they were filing legal action.

I received a call from the Criminal investigating Division of US National Bank.  The guy who called himself Ethan Hunt (must have a thing for Tom Cruise) told me I needed to pay him $900 or they were filing legal action and that his investigators would come to my home to arrest me.  When I asked why someone would drive or fly all the way to Ohio for $900 he said it could happen.  What a scam

I received same call, my employment receiving calls like crazy saying i owe them money for a payday loan which i have never had, the guy says he is Ethan Hunt, he has as India accent, says i am going to jail, may God Have mercy on me, it is very harrassing - i want this to stop but i don't know how

Said I owed 8000.00 but they would except 1995.00 also said I was goint to prison The names used have been Daniel Srewart,Patrick Trapper and Paul Wilson.They will not stop calling my place of employment.AT&T sats it is a scam,but you can not block the call.They all have a heavy Indian accent.

I received call too - they won't say who they are and this is the second time in 6 months I have received this similiar call.