This number has called my home and hung up repeatedly when I answered the phone, last time 3/24/12. This is harrassment and I owe no debts.

Me and my wife has recieved many threatning phone calls from these people. The last call I recieved was from Officer Brian Coleman 510-940-9056. This particular phone call he was trying to get in touch with a mutual friend of ours and said I was named in the lawsuit but everything would be ok if the the friend called him back.

does not leave a message

Fake Debt Collectors and Collection Tactics

If consumers did not have enough to worry about having to deal with rising credit card interest rates, late fees and over-limit fees, zombie debt, and fervent bill collectors, now we have to worry about collectors calling about fake debt.

While many legitimate collection agencies follow the FDCPA, there are some collectors out there that are only running a scam operation and will be quick to use threats and scare tactics to get you to pay up quick. Their scams turn up in mailboxes, on the internet and through the telephone every day. Some collectors pose as national banks, government agencies (FBI, CIA), or even popular celebrity stars to gain personal information. These phony collectors may threaten to repossess your house, issue a warrant for your arrest, or even garnish your pay check, all of which are against the FDCPA rules. Some of which are even laughable (for example, there is no debtor?s prison in the United States).

Fake debt scammers rely on the fear and lack of knowledge about debt collection laws within the population. They also figure that a certain percentage of their calls will be received by individuals who may be carrying debt on credit cards anyway and may be susceptible to intimidation. When collectors use misleading statements and fail to provide identification, they are breaking the law. Never pay money to a possible thief. Keep cool when you hear from collectors to avoid this collection abuse.

Many times, people who took out payday loans online in the past are most susceptible. If you took a payday loan, be aware scammers may have access to your Social Security number and other personal information, and keep your guard up against such tactics.

Ironically, real "deadbeats" probably wouldn't fall for these scammers, since they have no intention of repaying their creditors anyway. But upright citizens may doubt themselves, thinking they've forgotten to pay a bill. Many times, the sums involved tend to be fairly small, so some people may be tempted to just pay the "bill" and "get it over with."

Ways to Protect Yourself Against Debt Collection Scams

Review your credit report frequently to find inaccuracies.
Be aware of your current creditors and how much you owe.
Ask creditors for identification before you provide any information over the telephone.
Reporting Fake Debt Collectors

If you ever receive a call from anyone identifying himself as a debt collector, the law requires that the debt collector provide you with identification, and that the debt collector refrain from making misleading and threatening statements.

You can report any problems you have to your state Attorney General?s office www.naag.org and the Federal Trade Commission www.ftc.gov. Many states have their own debt collection laws that are different from the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Your Attorney General?s office can help you determine your rights under your state?s law.

http://www.internetautoguide.com/credit-cente ... on-tactics.html

I have been dealing with these people for months. They call as different people from different numbers, but always say the same thing. I filed a police report the first time they contacted me because they physically threatened myself and my children, and were stupid enough to leave it in a voice mail for the police to hear. Now, I either don't answer the phone and ignore their messages, or I'll answer, tell them I already spoke to someone to take care of it, and hang up. It's really getting annoying. The only way they will stop is if I change my phone number.

I received a call from them at work. I asked Mr. John Smith and Steve Jackson how do you have American names and you're clearly Arab. After I got the phone number I have been calling them back every minute. They shut the phone off and now it goes to voicemail. So I've been leaving messages in my American voice stating that this is Ms. Chandwattie Patel and I'm looking for Mr. John Smith or Steve Jackson please return my call at ######## Lmao, good times, Lol

A man with a foreign accent called my job and left a threatening message.  He said his name is Jack Lee and he is from a "legal office".  I am a teacher and cannot receive such calls at my job!  HIs phone number is 310-598-1752.  When I tried to return his call, I received a "mailbox full" message.

called my work and threatened the secretary.  I am a teacher in a school and cannot receive these phone calls at work!  the number is 310-598-1752. He said his name is Jack Lee.

The same thing has happened to me for the last couple of days. I've been receiving calls from this number and have been connected to a Kraig Stevens. He threatened numerous times to send a subpoena to my work and have me go to court if I didn't pay a debt I supposedly owed that company. This man would not give me the name of the company, would not answer any questions I had.

He stated calling from Los Angeles yet gave me a fax number with a San Diego area code to fax documents to him, then he called me from a number with a caller id showing philly.

The only company he stated being from or representing was cash connect, after googling this company, which happens to be a manufacturer for ATM machines, it stated clearly on their website that if you recieve calls from people claiming they are affiliated witn cash connect and asking for money you owe that it is a SCAM.

After a couple of days I was still receiving calls early in the morning, even at work (i work nights) at 630am. I also work for the government which I don't think they knew, being that those idiots left a threatening voice mail on my work phone which I saved for proof.

I've already filed a complaint with ftc.ca.gov  and bbb of san diego and attorney general of ca....you can find all this information on ftc website. please be careful and do not be afraid of this call from this company. They will scare you and say anything they can to get your money.

Thanks for posting this information because I was prepared when I received the call. I did not speak to the person when they called, I contacted them.

I just received another call from 810-676-161. I answered this time but I did not speak with anyone. The same person left a message which I believe is a recording. I called and asked for Kevin Bright and the person that answered the phone asked me who am I speaking to and I told him that Kevin Bright should know because he called me. The person identified himself as (was not clear) and began to tell me that he is a lawyer and that I have a lawsuit against me. He gave me the last four digits of my social security number. I did not give him any information because I read the information that was posted by Alfalfa - 8 Sep 2009. I am glad that I read the information beforehand because I was ready to respond. I told the caller that I want this information in writing because I know you have my address. He said that I responded very rudely and then he hangs up the phone.

I received two calls from a 810-676-161 on my personal cell and work phone. I did not answer. The caller left a message. The caller had an accent and stated that me or my attorney need to contact him, Kevin Bright at 310-598-1752. The caller ended the call saying don't disregard this message. If I do not hear from you or your attorney all I could do is wish you good luck. Goodbye and God bless you.

I got 5 missed calls in a row with the caller Id number 810-676-161 ,they left me a voice mail from a guy name " Rick" saying that I have a debt to pay and if that I dont return the call only " God will Guide me " to respond as soon as possible to avoid a law suit or else I will need a lawer , Well about 4 months ago I got the same calls , the calls got really bad and scary , luckily I have a lawer I took my lawers adviced and talk to this people and try to get as much information as possible that they had about me , the only thing they had was my bank routing number and of course my name . I called my phone company to block the number unfortunately the company will only keep the number block for 4 months , told the company what was going on and they told me they cant block it for no longer than 4 months but since its a number that can be google the FBI is already taing care of it .

There was a guy by the name of James who called my supervisors number and left a threatening message.  When I called back he wanted to get my social security number and credit card info. He also wanted me to write an apology letter to some man named Attorney Craig Stevens stating that I will pay him $525.33.  I have no clue as to what this is.  I am taking legal action from here on out.  He stated the name of the company was Law Firm Financial.

I just had the same thing happen to me..they wouldnt give me no info just threatened to take me to court but had my bank and email info..

I have been putting up with this for about a week now. sometimes getting up to 20 calls a day. well yesterday they threatened my life. i am very pissed!!

This scam has been going on for well over a year, now and has been recognized as such by the BBB:

Chicago, IL ? August 5, 2009 ? The Better Business Bureau is issuing an alert about phony debt collectors that are calling consumers nationwide and claiming that they have defaulted on a payday loan and will be arrested if they don?t pay immediately. Claiming to be lawyers, the scammers say they are with the ?Financial Accountability Association? or the ?Federal Legislation of Unsecured Loans? and are equipped with a disconcerting amount of personal information about their potential victims.

?Because the scammers have so much information about potential victims, the BBB is concerned that this may be the result of a data breach,? said Steve J. Bernas, president & CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and Northern Illinois. ?Thousands of people may have had their personal information compromised, and given the scammers? tactics, it appears that those who have previously used payday loan services could be particularly at risk.?

According to reports received by the BBB and posted online, the scammers accuse the victim of defaulting on a payday loan and claim they are being sued. The phony debt collector threatens that, if the victim doesn?t pay as much as $1,000 immediately via wire or by providing bank account or credit card numbers, he or she will be arrested and extradited to California within the hour to stand trial. The scammers often may have the victim?s Social Security, old bank account numbers or driver?s license numbers as well as home addresses, employer information and even the names of personal friends and professional references.

The BBB offers the following advice to consumers if they receive a suspicious telephone call about an outstanding debt:
* Ask the debt collector to provide official documentation in writing which substantiates the debt.
* Do not provide or confirm any bank account, credit card or other personal information over the phone until you have confirmed the legitimacy of the call.
* Review recent copies of your credit reports to ensure that the alleged debt is not affecting your credit. Consumers can do this for free once every 12 months, and can find more information here: http://www.ftc.gov/freereports
* Under the Federal Trade Commission's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, debt collectors may not harass, oppress, or abuse any person while attempting to collect a debt.
* A debtor may be contacted between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. only and can be contacted at work unless instructed not to.
* File a complaint with the FTC online if the caller is abusive, uses threats or otherwise violates federal telemarketing laws.
* File a complaint with BBB online at www.bbb.org if you believe a debt collector is trying to scam you.

http://www.thinkglink.com/article/2009/08/06/ ... eading-says-bbb

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-618-5897

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 gobblygook 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 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) 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, lawyers, officers of the court or bankers, or if they threatened you with arrest, be sure to include that information in your report.

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

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) The caller placed the call under a Texas area code. Even though the caller ID was probably spoofed or they're using VoIP technology to hide the fact that they're really calling from overseas, you should also file a complaint with the Texas Attorney General at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/complain.shtml

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

6) 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.

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
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-954-678-9724
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-610-571-3252
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-310-909-8245

Not at all. They are criminals trying to scare you into paying a debt that you don't owe to a company that does not exist.

No they will not. This is just another one of hundreds possibly thousands of scammers who hacked into payday loan websites, used the stolen info to scare people. The Better Business Bureau just recently issued an alert about these phony debt collectors. The FTC, FBI and secret service are all aware of this scam.  Notify the 3 credit bureaus and have them place a fraud alert on your credit report; that requires them to notify you if any new accounts are opened in your name.  www.equifax.com www.experian.com  www.transunion.com

This is the second call from the same man. he has two different names apparently...Anyway, he called as Craig Stephens/Stevens. He said the same old. You or your attorney call me or all I can do is wish you good luck as this matter unfolds. He wished me good luck and God bless. The last time I argued with them that they had the wrong person and they wanted me in court in California in 24 hours...which make no sense as I reside in FL and have never even been to Cali. Anyway...the number they called from this time was 810-676-161. i will alert the police tomorrow.

so are thease people for real am i in trouble or what???

so they realy are scamers nothing happend

will they surve you papers?

the same thing happend to me so its not real they wont surve you papers

they called me yesterday 47 times in about 3 minutes, I got my police involved with this same place, they called from that 9 digit number again while i was on the phone with the officer. i confrenced the call and the officer told him that he was a police officer and to not call this number anymore, he responded by sayin in a accent" you think i give a s*** about the police, f&#k you f#&k the police, ill take you both to hell." and hung up. the officer told me he had a bunch of complaints on the very same number recently. also said there was nothing he could do about it and to change my number.

They started calling about a month ago.. they buy phone numbers from your state. they have contacted me out of Michigan, California, North Carolina. the most recent number they called me on was 810-676-161. I finally answered and started to ask questions about what the call was all about. Nobody could tell me any information other than my name and social security number. Told me to Meet him at the court house on Tuesday at 11:00am. Told him that i never have been served. Ask what court house i should show up at ( just trying to see what answer i would get ) He started yelling at me and hung up on me. They call back later on and it starts all over again as if it's the first time they are contacting you. They are lying saying they are an attorneys office. for a "attorney's office" they make quite a few threats and everything they say makes no sence. DO NOT FALL FOR THEIR SCAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  when you ask questions they get defensive.

CALLED ME AT WORK...MAN WITH FOREIGN ACCENT VERIFIED MY NAME AND TRANSFERRED ME TO AN ERIC MATTHEWS.  SAID HE WAS WITH A COMPANY CALLED FAA.  STATED THERE WAS A LAWSUIT AGAINST ME.  VERY STRANGE.  TOLD ME TO CALL BACK WITHIN AN HOUR THEN HUNG UP ON ME

A man who says his name is Chris Jackson and who has a foreign accent called and left a message on my voicemail saying I needed to call or have my attorney call him. He never said what the reason was but said that if I didn't return the call, Lord knows what would happen and God bless me. He even had my banking information, and all personal data such as date of birth and social security number but I didn't let him know any of that information was correct. Anyone who gets a call from this person better beware because it's really CREEPY! The number on the voicemail was different and didn't have a complete United States phone number. The number that registered on the voicemail was 810 676 161. (9 digits instead of 10)