Kevin Jones is also calling from 718-732-0183
He threatens arrest for failure to pay back a payday loan.
He gives a fraudulent address, but he is having fun because he gives out the address of the NYC Dept of Consumer Affairs as his address.
He has a heavy middle eastern accent and claims to work for Law Offices of Richard Ross the puported in-house attorney for Advance America Cash Advance.

Caller identified himself as Jonathan and stated that I or my attorney shoukld call in regards to this sensitive matterand if not then all he could do is wish me luck, another telephone scam

stated dat i was bein sued by cash advance company  i need to get a lawyer

I just got the same phone call a few minutes ago. Thank you internet. Now thats networking fast.

Paul Harris that call me from a all 0000 number that came up on my phone calling back to back. no money was said about how much I owed but to call this number back at 315-294-9759. So the first thing I think about is a scam. My first instinct was to look this number up on google and this is what i found to be true . A scam?

I have been receiving calls from a james smith with a heavy accent.  He said that he was from a law office at 3152949759.  Stating that if I did not pay back a 1891.00 that he could not help me and the police would come to my job and arrest me and that they would put a lien on my property. I asked them to fax me the documents that he claims he has and he said no for me to just line and not interupt until he was done.

I received a similar call from someone named "Nick Williams' with a heavy arabic accent which was the first red flag.  You don't speak english well, but your name is "Nick Williams"...

It's a scam, when I called back & told him I was calling the police to report him and the number he called on he began swearing like a sailor even called me a name.  Then I knew it was a scam.  He never recited the 'this is an attempt to collect a debt phrase' that the normal bill collectors repeat & is required by the law for them to repeat.

Don't give them any information!

I recieved this same call today with almost every word verbatum. He left a message at my office yesterday and I returned it today.  He had my name and place of employment.  When I asked what this was in regards to he said i was being charged with fraud etc and said that the police would be showing up at my office tomorrow.  They also said that if I paid them $400 dollars it would go away.  I said no I would take my chances.

Received a call from 315-294-9759. The person spoke very stunted English and spoke very loudly. There was also a lot of background noise like the call was coming from a call center-possibly a foreign call center. Called our business phone and left a message for one of my employees that basically stated that she should call back this number about an extremely urgent and time sensitive matter. If she did not return the call she should have her attorney return the call. Also, if she did not return the call the caller stated, "I can only wish you luck as this situation unfolds upon you. Do not ignore this call!" The caller did use one of our employees 1st names, but gave no other info. Must be a scam. Did not return the call.

Received a call from 315-294-9759. The person spoke very  accented English Said his name was JOHNATHON FROST and spoke very loudly. There was also a lot of background noise like the call was coming from a call center-possibly a foreign call center. Called my cell phone and left a message  that basically stated that I should call back this number about an extremely urgent and time sensitive matter. If I did not return the call I should have my attorney return the call. Also, if I did not return the call the caller stated, "I can only wish you luck as this situation unfolds upon you. Do not ignore this call!" The caller did use my name, but gave no other info. Must be a scam. Did not return the call.

Received a call from 315-294-9759. The person spoke very  accented English Said his name was JOHNATHON FROST and spoke very loudly. There was also a lot of background noise like the call was coming from a call center-possibly a foreign call center. Called my cell phone and left a message  that basically stated that I should call back this number about an extremely urgent and time sensitive matter. If I did not return the call I should have my attorney return the call. Also, if I did not return the call the caller stated, "I can only wish you luck as this situation unfolds upon you. Do not ignore this call!" The caller did use my name, but gave no other info. Must be a scam. Did not return the call.

Received a call from 315-294-9759. The person spoke very stunted English and spoke very loudly. There was also a lot of background noise like the call was coming from a call center-possibly a foreign call center. Called our business phone and left a message for one of my employees that basically stated that she should call back this number about an extremely urgent and time sensitive matter. If she did not return the call she should have her attorney return the call. Also, if she did not return the call the caller stated, "I can only wish you luck as this situation unfolds upon you. Do not ignore this call!" The caller did use one of our employees 1st names, but gave no other info. Must be a scam. Did not return the call

This number called and said his name was David Brown. Said the police were coming to arrest and take home away. Stunted English and background noise. How do I get them to stop? When I call back I get a voicemail box that is full.

Received a call from 315-294-9759. The person spoke very stunted English and spoke very loudly. There was also a lot of background noise like the call was coming from a call center-possibly a foreign call center. Called our business phone and left a message for one of my employees that basically stated that she should call back this number about an extremely urgent and time sensitive matter. If she did not return the call she should have her attorney return the call. Also, if she did not return the call the caller stated, "I can only wish you luck as this situation unfolds upon you. Do not ignore this call!" The caller did use one of our employees 1st names, but gave no other info.

I tried calling this person back and got answering machine saying to leave a message on Ext 199101, and then the voice box got a message saying that it's full and then it disconnects the call.

These crazy foreigners have been calling me off and on for over a year now.  They've pretending to be everyone from Danny Foster to Wes Snyder...Chief of Police of my home town.  And they've called from so many different phone numbers...I'm afraid to answer any calls I don't know.  This is ridiculous.  And there should be something we can do about it.  I've placed police reports...and blown up at these people.  I'm at my wits end.  But I guess besides money...that's exactly what their looking for.  Now what?   I'm fed up!  Telephone Terrorists should be treated like the criminals they are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I HAD THE EXACT NUMBERS YOU HAVE THAT CALLED ME SAYING HE NEEDED MY ATTORNEYS INFO AND TOLD ME THAT ILL BE GETTING SERVED COURT PAPERS BY 11AM TODAY!!!! UGH IM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD I RESEARCHED THIS!!!! BUT THEY ARE THREATENING SOME REALLY CRAZY STUFF.....WHAT IF THE COME TO PEOPLES HOUSE??? I MEAN SINCE THEY HAVE ADDRESSES AND SSN UND STUFFF UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Its a scam. Kevin Jones called me today too. When I asked for the affadavit in writing he said he would send one to me. Yeah right.

He said that to me too. "OH MY GOD" Whats funny is they have these foreign accents and American names like Kevin Jones and Mack Paul. They said I owed money to AACA (Advance America Cash Advance) and they were calling from LLC Law Offices. They just kept saying "What do you intend to do about this debt?"  Now that I found this, its actually kinda funny because I am relieved to find out it is a scam. Jerks.

Just recieved a one minute message from these foreigners on my work phone threatning me. He told me that they need me or my attorney to return my call and said his name is Kevin Jones.  I couldn't  understand him much.  He told me don't disregard the message and return the call and if I don't return the call the only thing he can do is wish me luck as the situation unfolds upon me!  What the heck is this???

These people scared the living s*** out of me not only could I not understand what they were saying but how he was talking about calling my job, an sending me to jail, was enough. Then I thought about something an say let me call you back, an then look up the number 1-(315)-294-9759 and found this website thank god. Because he say I would have to pay $5000.00 and bail when they send me to jail. But for me not to go to jail they would need $1880.00, I said I didn't have it, then he replied like "OH MY GOD" like really?. Then he ask is it OK to charge my account & I say no because it not active, then ask do I have a debit or credit I say yes with $200.00 on it. Then he say could I pay $500.00 today I said no he again "OH MY GOD". Then he ask me about my $200.00 by saying I could pay $200.00 today an pay $300.00 tomorrow I said can't happen again "OH MY GOD". I told him I would have to get back with him. These people are good if you fall for it, Like me LOL.

I JUST SPOKE WITH THIS PERSON THIS MORNING THAT WAS TRULY UPSETTING FIRST I RECEIVED A MESSAGE THAT IF I DIDNT CALL BACK GOOD LUCK WITH WHAT IS ABOUT TO UNFOLD UPON ME! WHEN I SPOKE WITH THE REP I WASNT NICE AND ODDLY ENOUGH HE PLACED ME ON HOLD TO SPEAK WITH HIS SUPERVISOR THAT SOUNDED JUST  LIKE HIM WITH THE SAME DIRECT# THAT HE LEFT ON HIS MESSGE TO BE HIS.THESE PEOPLE HAD THE LAST FOUR OF MY SSN AND ALSO MY BANK ROUTING# BUT NOT THE ACCOUT# WHEN I ASKED FOR IT STATING THAT IF I DIDNT PAY BACK A LOAN IKNOW I DIDNT GET I WOULD HAVE TO FIND A BABYSITTER FOR MY KIDS BECAUSE I WILL BE JAILED.

I JUST RECEIVED ANOTHER CALL FROM THIS FAKE COMPANY. THE FIRST TIME I CALLED BACK AND TOLD THE ARAB LADY @ 315-519-2921 THAT I CONTACTED THE FTC THE ATTORNEY GENRAL AND THE CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCY AND SHE HUNG UP. THIS TIME IT WENT TO VOICE MAIL AND THE ARAB GUY NAMED JAMES SMITH (YEAH RT!) FROM 052585342 AND LEFT A NUMBER 315-294-9759. HE SAID I OWED ON A PAY DAY LOAN IM LIKE WHAT MY BANK GIVES ME ADVANCES I NEED A CASE #, COMPANY NAME ETC AND HE WAS VERY VAGUE WITH THE INFORMATION BUT WANTED ME TO PAY SO MUCH MONEY AND GIVE HIM MY BANK INFO. I DID NOT CUZ I CONTACTED AN ATTORNEY AND HE SAID NOT TO GIVE THEM ANY INFO CAUSE ITS FAKE. DON'T GIVE ANY INFO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got three calls from this phoney debt collector telling me to have either myself or my attorney on record call them back as soon as I get this message. They have a strong accent and you can tell that the name they leave is not correct they do not say what company they are calling from. This also happen to me last year. They try to be cery convincing that something bad is going to happen to you.

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

company has called again stating that they are sending faxed documentations to my place of employment today at 2pm for not responding back to them. They said the have contacted one of the references this morning. This is really getting out of hand. I have done all the necessary things to stop these harrassments and it still continues.

These ppl r so dumb...They call me with the # 052585342 amd didnt say nothing,so i hung up on them....Got on google and looked up the number....And it showed me a number i could call back...So i did...This guy pick uip....I gave him my name and number and he ask me why i was calling...I said u guys called me first and i want to know what u guys wanted.....He hung up on me...I keep trying to call them back but goes to voice mail....And when i want to leave a message it said it cant hold any.....CAN WE SAY SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LLL Law Offices claiming I owed $5000 or I was being sued. Never owed the creditor in question and when I tried to clarify that the dedt was not valid was rudely repremanded. I believe this company to be a scam...

I got this call yesterday and today.  Came through on cellphone the same as KRH.  Yes this is a scam.  FYI, never apply for a payday loan online.  This is where mines is coming from.  I had 3 and will be done paying for them in October 2010.  The best thing to do is to ignore the call and report to your local authorities plus the FBI for extortion.  Caller gives his name as Alex Williams.  Do not give these people your banking information.  They only have the last 4 digits of your social security number.  If they can't provide you with documentation of the debt then it is not real.

also, the number that showed up on my caller id (+052585342) was not the same as the call back number (315-294-9759)

I just got a call from this number, the message stated that either me or my attorney call on this very urgent and time sensitive manner.  The guy spoken with a very heavy accent, couldnt pronouce my name, and stated his name with Nick William. He also wished me good luck if I ignored this call.  It has to be a scam.