I have a client who as received harrassing phone calls from a guy with an Indian or Mid-East Accent.  He said his name is Steven Johnson.  He was demanding that my client owed money on payday loans, which she did not.  He would not tell her what payday loan company he supposedly represented.  He gave my client two fax numbers: 323-798-1733 and 858-435-7639

I didn't sign up for anything. Why did they call me?

BECAREFUL!!! They called me from 810-671-485 (Algonac Michigan) and left a message that I needed to call them back ASAP or else only God could help me. They left the number of 949-202-4675 and said his name was Fred Johnson. When I called the first time he answered using a different name, when i asked for Fred Johnson he paused and then said he was Fred Johnson. When I questioned him about why he was changing his name he would not respond and laughed. I called back and got a Steven Davis who told me that I was being charged with Bank Fraud, Money Laundering etc,. HE told me that I owed on a payday loan, over 500.00, and they were in charge of prosecuting the case. He told me I had 3 options, #1 Go to court where I would end up owing over $5000.00, #2 They would notify my employer and I would be fired, contact the DMV so my license would be suspended and contact the social security office so I would not be able to collect any benefits. I questioned them as to what their address was, he refused, I questioned when the alleged transaction took place, he refused, I asked for whom his company was collecting for, guess what? he refused. He had my name, last for of my social, my address, my wife's name and my cousins's name and he had my employers name, only one problem with his information, he obviously did not know what the initials of my employer meant, NYPD. I told him I would check my bank records for any such transaction. I immediately check my bank records going back to years and of course no record of any such transaction. I called back and spoke to a Steven Davis and advised him I was a law enforcement officer and as such I would be filing a report for my department and the appropriate federal agencies to investigate. Mind you today is thursday, he answers by telling me that the charges were going before a judge Monday morning and he doubted I could have this investigated in time. I again reminded him I was a Police Officer and I told him I also had researched his company and found it to be a scam. At this point he became extremely irate and told me not to call his number ever again. I will be pursing this with all my power and will do everything possible to track these people down. More importantly we must find how our information was leaked. I will keep you posted.

I received a call about two weeks ago, and freaked out, wondering who I could owe money too, after getting off of the phone, I realized it was a scam after thinking about it, I don't owe anyone money.  I just received the same call today, knowing it was a scam I tried to retrieve all of the information I could from these people.  They told me if I did not pay 854.00 dollars today, I would need to be in court tomorrow and face jail time and a fine of 6-7 thousand dollars, I immediately hung up and reported it to my local police station.  I then called the number back, I asked the man that answered the phone how he could live with himself by hurting innocent people and taking their money that they really did not owe.  He apologized, told me when he was hired there he really did not know that what he was doing was illegal, he thought he was really collecting on debts owed by the people he called.  I told him it was a scam and I owed nothing, he said he has figured this out recently, telling me he really lives in India, and can't find another job.  He also informed me all of the names these people use are false they are not from this country, and they are nothing but a call center located in India, but it is an American based company giving them all of this information.  I spoke with this man for over an hour, asking him questions, by the end of the conversation, he informed me all of these calls were recorded and he would shortly be fired.  I actually felt sorry for him.  The way it sounds the company actually scamming us is in the United States, they are just turning their dirty work to another country.  Everyone please be aware of these scams.  They cannot put you in jail, or harm you.  I would suggest to anyone that receives these calls to do what I did, let them know you know this is a scam, ask them how they get through the day hurting people and taking their money.  They won's call again.  At the end of the conversation, I asked the man to speak to his boss, he put him on the line, I told him I would now like to make my payment, he was so happy, I explained to him my local police department would be more than happy to give him the information, he swore at me and hung up.

I just started getting calls from this number yesterday, but I've been getting calls from similar people since the beginning of the year.  They are all trying to collect on a Internet PDL that I supposdely received in 2006.  Which is crazy, because everything I had was discharged in BK November 2006.  He said his name is Gary Simon from the Federal Dept. of US Govt.  Told me to call him back at 949-202-4673, these people are so full of crap.  Now when he calls I just answer and pick up the phone and start pressing buttons then I hang up.  In his last message he said, "May God Save You"

I received a call at work, state the person they wanted was out to lunch. I took a message the lady said her name is Christie Williams, it was an emergency that (employee) call it't regarding a legal issue. I looked up the number on the internet, surprise it could be a scam.  I tried calling the number they just answered "hello", I asked for the name of their company and why they were calling my work number. The man (heavey accent) wanted my name, I did not give it to him. Who are you and with what company is this, he did not give his name but I made out "Standard Credit". Later I phoned again, asked why they were calling my place of business,gave the number he called he than gave me the person they were calling.  I asked for the company names he said Mr. Wilson with the Federal Department US Government. I informed him to not call here, however he said, "just have (employee) give us a call and hung up.

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

...and, many, MANY more.

i dont not believe this!!!! the same exact thing just happend. they said i was being sued for a payday loan i took out in 8/2008 with 1st cash. i qucicky signed on to my bank and looked at my statements from 7/08 8/08 and 9/08 and no cahs advance was given to me. they knew my last 4 digits of my SS# and who i banked with. i'm freaked out. i dont know what to do. im afraid im going to see money missing. did any of you have anything happen after the call.

I received a call from 310-598-2095 at my place of employment today.  He told one of my employees that this was a legal matter and that I needed to call them right away.  When I called by a person who spoke very little english and was told that I was being sued for a payday loan, however they couldn't tell which particular company other then 1st Cash International, which supposedly has over 320 companies.  They couldn't even tell me what city this supposedly happened in.  I called back and talked to Steve Johnson (which I believe is the same guy I talked to the 1st time).  He told me that I would be served with Federal papers tomorrow, but still couldn't tell me who it was that I was being sued by.  When I pressed him and told him that I wanted to know how much the total was he crumpled papers and told me a random amount.  He also told me that I had been sent 3 emails which I did not receive, he told me not to lie!  They are very rude and try to pressure you into admitting to something.  I will be contacting my police department.

My sister got a call just like everyone elses the scary thing is they had all her personal information even my moms and my name and address, last 4 of her SSN. She doesnt know what to do? I suppose what everyone else is call the police...

Today even i received a message from eric wilson, it was too bold and it was in a threating  manner. I called them back and i was not able to talk with mr.wilson, they told he was his junior(steven johnson), he told me that i was to pay them money and asking for card details... I just hung up. He tried to reach me but i just changed my num...! Dont belive them they r just an scam....

this man called my house also and stated to me that i was going to go to jail for a loan from payday loan ... he even told me who i banked with ... i dont know who this is at all and i believe he is trying to steal peoples identities .. how can i make these phone calls stop ...

So I receive a call from these people last week stating that the Federal Department of the US is pressing charges against my social security number they started giving me plenty of personal information and then told me that I needed to get an attorney and that it was a payday loan pressing charges against me and that I should be scared because of what they could do to me. A week passes they start prank calling me so I get the numbers from them; they gave me three and three different names one was Patrick, the other was Dawn Miller and the last one was Sean Davis. So I call back today and request further information and still the are B***S******g me about what is going on.

I have a client who received the same call from Steven Johnson (Alias for Mustafa) from 310-598-2095.  The guy spoke with a foreign accent and said thing, which to me, was stupid.  He threatened her with court action and even said she had to be in Court on Monday, September 7, 2009  to answer for her crime of not paying a payday loan.  September 7th was Labor Day and there is no Court in the US open.  There may be in India or wherever this guy is from.  At any rate, get back in the guys face and tell him he is going down!

Do you have the number to the CA attorney gen?

These people had the nerve to call my place of employment and tell my employee this was a legal matter and I was to contact them immediately.  When I did the scenario was the same as the others. A foreign man stated he worked with the Federal Government and I would be served papers in the morning.  I filed a claim with the local police, IC3 and am in the process of filing a report with California Law Enforcement.  I will be contacting them on a regular basis letting them know what I have done.  I am in hope some agency of enforcement can put a stop to this.

Yes I called them back many of times, and he denied ever calling anyone, its funny how much they try to scam, I called him a terriost and he said that he was and when I called Allah a fake a** jew he hung up on me I think I pissed him off, just keep blocking your number and call them, they hate it a lot

THe same things has been going on with me. They will call and say I owe a cash advance place $400.00 and I have to pay or I will be arrested. They say they are from the chef attorneys office of the Federal Govt. This is the second number that has called me saying the same thing the other number has. The number that shows up on caller id is 810671485 then they give me a different number for my lawyer to call.

Man says he is with the Dept of federal govt. Claims that He is representing First Natinal Bank in a lawsuit aginst me. He says this lawsuit is for a two hundred dollar payday loan that I never recieved. He claims First National Bank Electronically wired these funds to one specific account. This account he claims the money was deposited into is an inactive account, and it is an account that has never been used. This account has no transaction history whatsoever. Once I explained this to hime he said that I would have to be in court in California by Monday morning (it is Sat) and I live in NH, or I would be arrested and extradited to California to face prosecution. He said his name was Rick Matthews, a representitive of the Dept of Federal Government. He gave his address as 1136 Alivia Canyon Drive in Calabasas,CA 91302. He told me if I could not come to court my only other option was to pay him five hundred and twenty seven dollars which he would pay directly to the court on my behalf in order to keep the charges from going forward. I asked why I would pay him and not send the money to the court's and he started swaring and screaming at me. He said that I was a scammer, not him, and now he would'nt accept my payment. He hung up on me. I went to the computer and started to type the information in and I contacted the FBI field office in Calabasas. I spoke with an incredible woman there who assured me this was most certainly a scam and not to worry. She contacted this man at his call back # he left on my voicemail(which I saved btw) and once she explained she was a REAL federal officer he said "My office is closed, call back monday" and hung up. She suggested I contact the Attorney General's Office in CA and file a formal complaint, which I did. I just want everyone to know if this is happening to you, contact the Atty General
s Office in CA..The more complaint's filed, the more likely someone will investigate this fraudulent behavior.

Hi..Just so everyone knows..I have also recieved the same phone call..The guy swore he worked for the federal prosecuting atty's office..I got his name(supposed name) and number and address..I have contacted the FBI Field Office in California and have given them all information regarding this company..It is a scam..and as long as you can prove you never recieved funds in the first place, there will be no chrges pressed against you.I have been assured by the FBI that this matter is being looked into and I was also assured that if the Federal Gov't was to come after you for theft by deception ar any other crime for that matter, you would be served in hand by a sheriff of officer of some sort..Do not be scared by them or intimidated..They are just scamming money out of innocent people.

After the Labor Day weekend, I have not received any calls from this number. After "google-ing" the number I found out it's a landline caller from Los Angeles.

Several calls from this number today.   Male claims to be Mr Wilson, and that I "better call him back ".  

I did,   used *67 to block my number and asked if he was in the US.  
Would not answer.

This person also called me,two times in a row. He stated that he was Eric Wilson. I could not make out much other than I needed to call him bakc and not disregard tht phone call or else something bad would happen and then he wishes me "Good Luck" I decided to try and find out some information as this man was very difficult to understand and I am not sure wha to do.

Within the last few months I have had several of these types of calls.  All from different numbers and all with Indian accents.  Each one with different names and even had one claim to be an attorney's office out of New York, so I called the attorney that they said they were from turns out that they have been using this attorney's name, but this attorney they are using is a defense attorney and rather than represent a company like this, they would be representing the consumer.  FIle police reports, with the FTC, FAA, states attorney general, US attorney general, and the FBI on any and all calls you receives like this.  This particular one claimed he was Erick Wilson from the Federal Department of the US Government--that is the first clue the Federal Department (makes no sense) told me that if I did not call back I would be sorry and would have to deal with the legal mess due to a lawsuit that was filed against me.  Whatever you do, do not send these people money or give them any information, this is a scam and the government is trying to narrow down where these people are--give the authorities any and all information you have, any that can be provided will help us eventually catch these scammers.

i have gotten the same calls in the last two days. they had left a message saying his name was "Peter Parker" and if i didnt have my reainting lawyer call them back then "Good Luck".  We have called and put a fraud alert on our bank account, but does anyone have any information on these people? the man has a middle eastern to kind of indian accent. he would not give the name of the company he works for and told not to invesitgate them. if anyone else has anything posst someting so we can put an end to this.

The guy called again today after I said I would make arrangements to pay. He called my work at least one time, and called my cell 8 times in a row. When he finally left a message he stated he was the senior attorney general for the state of california, and if I did not call him back in the next 5 minutes,"he's sorry, but I would have to deal with the courts and legalities." The CA. state Atty General is on this site:

http://www.ag.ca.gov/

I know that I have payday loans to pay, and I'm working hard to pay them all off, but I will not pay someone some amount of money that doesn't match my documents and when the calls are of a harassing nature - and the caller will not disclose which payday company they work for, not only can I not in good consience give away my money and I refuse to give it to this belligerent person.

I am in the same boat as everyone else, but this has been going on since March with mine and he uses different names and different phone numbers. I have then filed four police reports changed my cell number and my work number.  about three months have passed and he found me somehow. I have no clue how he got my new cell number and new work number.  I am very frustrated. I filed another police report yestarday and the police told me they cant do anything. I am looking into going to the FBI. I have filed reports with the states attorney office.  I also have fraud alerts out on my ssn and at all three credit agencies. I also have changed bank accounts and everything.  My life is so messed up over this.  I go back to work on Thursday and I wonder how many times he has called me there.  I have all of my calls and voice mails documented.

I had the same thing happen to me.I guy called my work,and the first thing he did was say I could lose my job if I didn't talk to him.I told him I could talk at work and hung up.HE called again and my boss told him if he called again he would call the police.The mans then said I am the police.MY boss said no your not and hung up.HE then called my house 8 times in a row,while I was at work and left 5 messages.I called back to see what it was about and he said it was a payday loan I had,bt could not provide me with proof.HE threated to have someone come and take me to jail .He bullied me and I set up payment arangement's, but then I thought about it and called the polie.The police said it was a scam and to cancel my card and block his phone.The police officer called them and couln't get them to give info.HE told them not to call me again.The guy called again at my work.I told him you are not supposed to call me,the police already called you,he said oh police,mumble something I could understand and hung up.I have a fradulent report with the police on them.But, since they can't trace the phone number we can't go after them.Anyone have any idea's how to go after these people.

Im not even sure this is legit yet. Anyone else know anything more?

This man has called and treatened me when I told him that I would check with the payday loan company first he hung up then a week later called my job what can I do????