Please see the following from the Ohio Better Business Bureau - File complaints with them and the FTC.  [Also see Int'l Phone # 052312293 which has MANY complaints posted.]  This is a huge scam!

CONSUMER ALERT:

A company called Legal Account Association, claiming to be in Cincinnati, is operating a phony debt collection scam. Distraught consumers are getting harassing phone calls, sometimes even at their job, from representatives calling themselves Legal Account Association. These consumers are being falsely accused of defaulting on payday loans.

Legal Account Association threatens that if the consumer doesn’t pay as much as $587 immediately via wire or by providing bank account or credit card numbers he or she will be arrested. The debt collector 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 scam artists hope that the harassing phone calls and fear of arrest will force victims to send them money without questioning if the debt is genuine.

Legal Account Association appears not to be a legitimate debt collection company. BBB is unable to locate the persons responsible these phone calls, or if the phone calls truly originate within the United States. According to the United States Postal Service, the address the company says they are located at in Cincinnati is not a valid address. The company's phone number is not a Cincinnati, OH phone number but the area code is instead for Attica, OH (outside of Toledo, OH).

When asked, the company refuses to provide documentation to substantiate the debt. According to one caller, Legal Account Association claimed to be working on behalf of a law office in Missouri. But when she called the law office herself, they said they never heard of the company or any debt she owed. That law office in Missouri also personally contacted our offices to say that Legal Account Association is not associated whatsoever with their business.

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 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.

· File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission online if the caller is abusive, uses threats or otherwise violates federal telemarketing laws.

Yeah you call them back because and it beeps because they only have one line... not a proper debt collected... not a really one either

I got a call from this number claiming I took out a $321.00 loan in December. Someone name James Watson from Legal Acct. Association representing Advance Payday Plus. When i asked for proof of the loan and documentation, what acct it went in. He threatened me by telling me I would be arrested. I said do it.  And to make it so bad I could not understand what he was saying because he was foreign with a name of James Watson.

They called the first time and left a message on my voice mail saying that I would be arrested if I did take care of this debt; which is illegal.  They called again at 6:45am in the morning; which is illegal.  When I call back trying to get info on the company or speak with a manager they hung-up.  

They sound like an outsourced collection agency based in India that has no ideal of what they are doing.

someone called me from this number today at my job,the receptionist took a message and i called the number back and it says it has been disconnected...lol

CALLING ME SAYING I OWED $250  ON A PAYDAY DATED BACK IN JAN 2010. WHEN I CLEARLY PAID MY DEBT. NEVER HAD A LOAN WITH ADVANCED PLUS PAYDAY, MY LOAN WAS AND IS WITH CASH NET USA. HE SAY HIS JACK WILSON WHICH I BELIEVE IS A FAKE NAME. WHEN I RETURNED THE CALL BACK HE STARTING CURSING AND REAL NASTY LANGUAGE.

I received a call today from these guys.  They said my sister had a pay day loan she defaulted on and had listed me as a reference.  It was now my responsibility to pay or the police would come to my door and arrest me.  When I told them I didn't know what they were talking about and I wasn't going to pay,
James Watson, told me this would follow me and I would be arrested.  The company name they gave was Legal Accounts Associates based in New York.  He continued to try to threaten me with being arrested and legal action, so I told him to do what he needed to.  After speaking with my sister, she told me it was a scam and they had tried this six months ago with my mom and her.  This scam is using Pay Day Plus loans.  We both called the company and when we pressed for more info, they hung up on both of us; I'm in North Carolina and she's in Texas.

I got the same call on my cell phone.  The number showed up as +052312293, and the person left a message to call him back at 315-982-6578.  I couldn't understand a word he was saying, but he did demand money...stating that I owed money to a company.  When I asked him the name of the company he said that it was to late for all of that and that it is going to court.  I asked him to mail me the letter he was reading from, and he said that he couldn't do that.  This was the last time he would call.  I said that when you send me the letter I will contact you to discuss.  He told me to go to hell and hung up the phone.

This fellow says his name is Ed Rogers (this time) and the same voice, pronouncing my name the same wrong way has called using different numbers as well as early as May 2010.  Right now he is using a international number +052312293 to call my work and cell number, leaving a message stating that if i do not call him back immediately at 315 982 6575 I will regret it and god help me because there will be nothing he can do.   HIs previous messages said he would have the police come to my office and arrest me. He will not leave a company name, he just says the hotline to my division is 315 982 6575

This person keeps calling me and I told him to stop. He said he would not. I want to complain about him. Thanks!

This number is calling me and when I call back they say they are a lawyer. However I have never heard of. Them before.  They need to stop.

For at least the last four years, possibly longer, a group has been calling former payday loan applicants advising them that they have defrauded a bank and are now being sued for non-payment of a loan.  The callers will claim to be calling on behalf of an attorney's office (name varies), the Dept. of Law and Investigation, ACS, or other similar combinations below:

United Legal Processing Division
Midline Marketing
Crime Monitoring Services
Monetary Crime Division
U.S. National Bank
Attorney General?s Office (usually in California)
American Legal Services
Affidavit Consolidation Services (ACS)

You will be threatened with arrest, a costly trial and possibly worse.  In no shape, way or form can you be arrested for non-payment on a consumer debt.  Do not believe these threats, as they are without merit and cannot be carried out in the manner they allege.  

Who are they?

In the past when pressed by law enforcement for an address, the callers have provided the following information:

David Morgan and Associates
Morgan & Associates
Morgan Associates
954-727-8481
1155 Northwest 85th Street
Wintergarden, Florida  33150
(Address is likely invalid)

The collector's MO matches a once legit collections agency called Ellis Crosby & Associates.  Here are some links on them:

http://www.budhibbs.com/collectorpages/ellis_crosby_and_associates.htm
http://www.budhibbs.com/collectorpages/EllisCrosbyJudgment.pdf

They have been previously fined over $1.3 million for various violations.  They have been known to use phone banks in India to make their calls, which more or less coincides with the difficult to understand accent many of us detect when we are contacted.  

The last time this group went by any "official" name was back in 2008:

Ellis Crosby & Associates / Douglas & Morgan Associates
4494 Southside Boulevard Suite #200
Jacksonville Florida 32216
Phone:  800-928-3536 / (904) 928-3536
(Address is likely invalid)

There are NUMEROUS consumer alerts out against this group of individuals:

Florida:
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061107/met_176207561.shtml

Kansas:  
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/01/ks_debt_collection.html

Colorado:  
http://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/press/ ... lls_likely_orig

Rhode Island:  
http://www.collectionscreditrisk.com/news/rho ... -3002135-1.html

West Virginia:
http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm

Missouri:
On July 15th, 2010 a Public Awareness Bulletin was sent out by Missouri Information Analysis Center.  

"..received reports from individuals in Ohio and Illinois reference suspicious telephone calls they received. In both instances, the callers are reporting that a voicemail is received from a man, with a Middle Eastern accent, identifying himself as an officer working with the Financial Crimes Unit.  The message indicates that the reason for the call concerns a loan made by the receiver or someone in the receiver's family. The voicemail requests that a return call be made and a telephone number is provided. When a return call is made, the caller is asked to provide personal identifying information such as their date of birth and social security number.

Reports indicate that the calls are frequent and persistent and that they even threaten arrest or legal action if information or money is not provided. It appears that the individuals making these calls may have access to some records connecting individuals and their relatives.  Missouri does not have a Financial Crimes Unit and all indications are that this is a fictitious agency. If you receive a similar phone call, please be advised that it is a scam and please contact your local law enforcement agency or the Missouri Information Analysis Center at 866-362-6422."

Bottom line:

Do not supply the callers with any additional information.  Inform them you have reported them to law enforcement and hang up.  If you haven't already, go ahead and report the calls to local law enforcement, your state's Attorney General and beyond.  Look up the local Secret Service branch's information in your area and get in contact with an agent there.  

If you ever applied for a cash advance online, your information is out there.  
Possible sources for the breach of your privacy are:

* The scammers obtained your information from Teletrack - a reporting agency used by many cash advance lenders to determine their risk lending to you.  The service is able to tell cash advance lenders if you have existing loans with other companies, for example.  Many state laws prohibit borrowers from having more than two cash advances out at the same time.

* The scammers created their own fake payday loan application site.  People looking for a cash advance went to the site and applied, thus freely providing the scammers with their information for malicious use at a later time.  

* The scammers were able to get into the database(s) of cash advance lenders - probable targets being Sonic Payday and Cashnet USA.  


How to protect yourself:

* Inform your employer.  You are likely getting calls at home and/or at work, so make sure your employer is aware the calls are part of a scam and to not take them seriously.  Advise the callers that they are no longer allowed to call you at work.  If they continue to call, document the date and time of the calls you received.  Save voice mails left if at all possible.  

* Change your number(s).  For some this may not be an option, for others a one-time number change can be done free of charge.

Be advised - any references you listed on your payday loan application will be contacted.  Let those people know that this is a scam, and they can disregard.

* Use Google Voice.  Google Voice is a great replacement voice mail system for just about any phone number you use.  Messages can be transcribed and voice mail recordings can be saved as mp3 files.  

Pro Tip - call the scammers with a Google Voice number before turning off your old phone numbers.  Make sure when you call you identify yourself so they can start up their script.  At any point after they have your information pulled up just hang up.  They will then start religiously calling your Google Voice number.  At this point, you are free to change your regular phone number(s) and enjoy not having these people ever call you again.  (And laugh at the fact these people are basically talking to a brick wall several times a day)

The scammers change their numbers frequently.  Law enforcement used to think it was because the callers ran out of minutes on their prepaid wireless accounts or they were shuttered due to fraud, but now they understand it's simply to evade detection by savvy consumers online.  With the proliferation of VoIP, it's even easier for the crooks to stay a couple of steps ahead of law enforcement.  Below is just a sampling of the 30+ numbers that have been used in recent memory.

1-201-244-7722
1-209-349-7382
1-209-797-2212
1-212-500-0839
1-213-256-0408
1-213-995-3039
1-281-763-0433
1-347-289-3902
1-347-844-6817
1-347-844-6831
1-424-354-4270
1-516-232-8905
1-516-232-8935
1-518-212-0219
1-561-300-8018
1-561-210-4185
1-626-200-4646
1-631-456-4041
1-646-274-1143
1-646-810-8635
1-650-241-4604
1-707-401-4056
1-707-633-2789
1-708-401-0535
1-716-442-2824
1-717-862-4080
1-718-705-8669
1-760-514-0132
1-760-563-5384
1-772-318-4938
1-850-201-1111
1-858-777-1977
1-859-908-2281
1-866-860-4509
1-877-226-7488
1-888-706-7463
1-888-771-9249
1-888-785-4479
1-909-327-4870

So can they really do anything to you?

It's not a simple yes or no answer.  Logic dictates that, if they really wanted to take you for a ride and drain your bank accounts, they already would have.  

So, why haven't they?  

Authorization.  

Why do you think you are being called so much?  Perhaps it is because they like the sound of your voice?  No, they have to have your authorization to take any form of payment from you, period.  The callers know their audience, and that audience is typically a bunch of people that have applied for payday loans in the past.  Most of those people they call couldn't afford an attorney if they wanted one, and are so used to receiving collections calls that so long as they sound like a real collector, they will likely be perceived as one.

Furthermore, they don't even really want to talk to your attorney - that just sounds official and scary enough.  A real attorney would take the callers to task and write them off as two-bit con artists.  The callers need you, in writing, to authorize payment against the fictitious debt they claim you owe.  Go ahead, ask them for proof you owe the debt - more commonly known as verification of debt.  See what they say.  A phone authorization carries very little weight, so if they have something signed by you on file, you are done for - and the callers know that.  That authorization is the only thing these callers are doing by the book, and for good reason.  If they just went all willy nilly and made an ACH debit from your checking account, without your written approval, you could in turn report the transaction as fraudulent to your financial institution.  In about 7-10 business days, you would get the funds returned to your account.  Then the scammers would be up against a bank and their team of lawyers and investigators.  

Bottom line:

If you haven't paid the callers a dime, don't.  If you planned on paying them to shut them up, just don't.  Remember - you are not being contacted by a legally licensed, ethically owned and operated collector.  Read up on the FDCPA - http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf - and know your rights.

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-646-274-1143/3

I receive calls from these people every 3 months or so threatening me, calling me @work. Saying I need an attorney, something horrible will happen to me.

Please see the following from the Ohio Better Business Bureau - File complaints with them and the FTC.  [Also see Int'l Phone # 052312293 which has MANY complaints posted.]  This is a huge scam!

CONSUMER ALERT:

A company called Legal Account Association, claiming to be in Cincinnati, is operating a phony debt collection scam. Distraught consumers are getting harassing phone calls, sometimes even at their job, from representatives calling themselves Legal Account Association. These consumers are being falsely accused of defaulting on payday loans.

Legal Account Association threatens that if the consumer doesn?t pay as much as $587 immediately via wire or by providing bank account or credit card numbers he or she will be arrested. The debt collector 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 scam artists hope that the harassing phone calls and fear of arrest will force victims to send them money without questioning if the debt is genuine.

Legal Account Association appears not to be a legitimate debt collection company. BBB is unable to locate the persons responsible these phone calls, or if the phone calls truly originate within the United States. According to the United States Postal Service, the address the company says they are located at in Cincinnati is not a valid address. The company's phone number is not a Cincinnati, OH phone number but the area code is instead for Attica, OH (outside of Toledo, OH).

When asked, the company refuses to provide documentation to substantiate the debt. According to one caller, Legal Account Association claimed to be working on behalf of a law office in Missouri. But when she called the law office herself, they said they never heard of the company or any debt she owed. That law office in Missouri also personally contacted our offices to say that Legal Account Association is not associated whatsoever with their business.

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 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.

· File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission online if the caller is abusive, uses threats or otherwise violates federal telemarketing laws.

PROTECT YOURSELF!  IMPORTANT INFORMATION YOU MUST READ ? HOW THE SCAM WORKS AND WHAT AGENCIES TO REPORT THEM TO
LONG RUNNING AND KNOWN SCAM ? ALL OVER INTERNET AND NEWS FOR ALMOST 2 YEARS NOW

Fake Debt Collectors ? Terrorizing Consumers

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1


MORE ON FAKE DEBT COLLECTORS
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-9141
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/call4action/17285785/detail.html
http://www.800helpfla.com/newsletter/2008/092008.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/01/ks_debt_collection.html   latest release of information on this scam

http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm
Attorney General Darrell McGraw took the extraordinary step today of warning the public about a band of scam artists making threats to consumers who allegedly obtained Internet payday loans in West Virginia and across the nation. The consumers they threaten never obtained a loan at all or paid it off years ago.

Internet payday loans are short-term loans or cash advances, usually for 14 days, made over the Internet via interactive web sites and secured by an agreement authorizing debits of the loan and all fees owed from the consumer?s checking account. These loans typically charge interest rates ranging from 600-800 APR and are unlawful in West Virginia.

The scam artists, who speak English with a foreign accent, call themselves ?U.S. National Bank,? ?Federal Investigation Bureau,? ?United Legal Processing? and numerous other phony names. They refuse to disclose real names and addresses and are believed to be operating ?off the grid? from homes, automobiles, or from off shore locations or foreign countries, including India. Since the scammers have kept themselves purposely well hidden, thus far no law enforcement agencies have succeeded in locating or shutting them down.

The scammers typically pose as law enforcement officers, investigators, lawyers, and bankers and threaten consumers that they will be arrested for ?bank fraud? or other fictitious crimes unless money is wired immediately. They simultaneously scare and confuse consumers by using meaningless legalese gobbledygook phrases such as, ?We are downloading warrants against you? or ?We are filing an affidavit against you.? Consumers who don?t immediately fall for the scam are warned, ?Only God can help you now.?

The scammers almost always call consumers at work several times a day, and tell their supervisors, ?Your employee has committed fraud and is about to be arrested.? Such threats have proven unsettling even to the most savvy consumers and employers who suspect the calls are fraudulent.

Attorney General McGraw stated, ?Ordinarily my office protects consumers from fraudulent activities by seeking injunctions in court. But legal action cannot be taken until the scam artists can be located. Even then, it is unlikely that the persons behind the fraudulent calls and extortionist threats would obey a court order. In this case, the consumer?s best defense is to be armed with the knowledge of the scam so that all demands for money can be resisted, despite the false but scarey threats of arrest.?

McGraw added, ?Because the fraudsters make a special point of calling consumers repeatedly at work, employers must understand that the consumers are innocent victims of a criminal enterprise and cannot stop the calls from coming. I also wish to assure the citizens of West Virginia that my office will continue to do everything possible to locate and shut down the outlaw debt collectors.?

More information about this fraudulent debt collection scheme is available at the Attorney General?s website, www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam. Any consumers who have been threatened by these persons or wish to file a complaint about another consumer matter may do so by calling the Consumer Protection Hot Line, 1-800-368-8808, or by obtaining a complaint form from the Attorney General?s web site.

It's a debt collection scam. And all their threats are false and illegal.
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.    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.wvago.gov
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
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
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-310-499-9983
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-771-9249   Scammer posting here as GARY and GARRY JONES
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-866-860-4509   Scammer posting here as Mike Henderson
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-212-500-0839   Scammer posting here as Ricky
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-201-244-7722   Scammer posting as Carole, David Brown and Amanda
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-626-200-4646   Scammer placing false postings at this new number as silshan kanniue and Tina ? preparing a new number to use.
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-424-354-4270   Scammer placing false postings as Rose
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-785-4479   Scammer posting as Robert
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-909-327-4870   Scammer placing false postings as Marry
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-646-274-1143   Scammer placing false postings as Karen Miller
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-561-300-8018   Scammer placing false postings as Marco Polo (real original)
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-226-7488   Scammer placing false postings as SAM, David S
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-706-7463   Scammer placing false postings as George
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-209-349-7382   Scammer placing false postings as Towanda Robinson, Shannon Walsh, Jack Dawson and Cynthia
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-760-514-0132   scammer placing false postings as Suzy01, Johanna Hall, Cindie McMellon, Michael Dublin, Mark Williams, Carol and Rio  



Scam alert: Bogus debt collectors
By Leslie McFadden ? Bankrate.com
Monday, Aug. 3
Posted 2 p.m.
Bankrate reporter Leslie McFadden contributed this entry.
This scam isn't technically about credit cards, but it is scary enough to post a warning. The Better Business Bureau issued an alert today saying consumers across the country are getting phone calls from bogus debt collectors claiming default on a payday loan. Of course, the consumer needs to pay a large fee to avoid arrest -- as much as $1,000.
The caller poses as a lawyer, and may threaten extradition to face trial if the consumer doesn't pay up immediately.
What makes these calls alarming -- and perhaps convincing -- is that the perpetrators reference the consumer's personal information, such as the person's Social Security number, driver's license number, previous bank account numbers, home address -- even personal references.
"The amount of information they have is really troubling," says BBB spokeswoman Alison Southwick. She adds that the amount of data points to a possible security breach.
Spread the word to your friends and family: Don't give out personal or financial information to an unknown caller. Scammers can spoof Caller ID to display different numbers, so trust your instincts over technology.
The BBB offers these tips:
?    Ask the debt collector to provide official documentation 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.
?    File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission online if the caller is abusive, uses threats or otherwise violates federal telemarketing laws or the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
?    File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau online if you believe a debt collector is trying to scam you.

John Fernandez this is the same as 909-580-8968 and this is a scam
Caller: unknown
Call Type: Debt Collector
Reply ! mse
11 May 2010
They cannot do anything to you, except threaten. Report the number to the Attn. Gen. of your state. It is ILLEAL to impersonate an attorney!!
Call Type: Debt Collector
Reply ! ChangePhone#
13 May 2010
This is a scam completely.  I got calls from a different number on this several months ago.  Started up again today.  A new number.  I am going to change the number on my phones...  That is the only way to get them to stop calling.

Also they are more than likely outside of the country so charges wont help...
Call Type: Prank Call
Reply ! Terry
13 May 2010
Cell phone traced to Poway, CA

TOTAL SCAM
Claims to represent EZCash.net
Reply ! bonnie
13 May 2010
This number called me at work threatening me and saying something about a cash loan i never got. he said he had proof that it came out of my checking account. He was reading off my numbers. He was telling me to get my attorney, Anyway i never said yes or no to anything i just said i dont know what you are talking about and hung up finanlly. Now a month later he calls me on my cell phone. this is a scam!!!!!!!
Caller: said he was cash loan place
Reply ! lj
17 May 2010
My number 858-248-4838 (the caller id is 901-248-1060)
They have called my work all day saying they are from a lawyers office that I owe money.
Reply ! sherri
17 May 2010
I have had 2 messages on my home phone from this number saying the same thing,,being threatening saying he wishes me luck and to get in touch with my attorney,,he has a very strong indian accent. Very Very Threatening!!!! I am now going to change my home number because this isnt the first time they have called me!!!
Caller: Unknown blocks calls
Reply ! kismet45
25 May 2010
I was threatened by these people today, to repay a loan(Easy Cash Advance), I've never received! I was threatened with being taken to Court; and needing an Attorney, and charges were being pressed against me! I did save the message they left! The guy; Mike Jones(an Alias I'm certain), would never disclose full details of this loan! He said it was for $540, and I now owed $5,400! After I had finished "cussing" him out, I made some calls(the Authorities)! They advised me on what to do next! I called the "Con-Artists" back, and told them a few things! In addition, I informed them, the Authorities are aware of whom they are, and their "days are numbered"! The "fool" had the audacity to debate with me on this! By the way; during my second conversation,"Mr. Mike" was suddenly unavailable! "Daniel" took over! In the beginning, I went through many motions! Now, I'm "freaking'" MAD! This is a California-based phone number!
Caller: 858-428-4838
Call Type: Debt Collector
Reply ! kismet45 replies to kismet45
25 May 2010
I need to correct the number! It is 858-248-4838! Sorry!
Reply ! julia
26 May 2010
heavy indian accent.  they are going to "down load" a case against me.
they want me or my attorney of record to call back.  if i dont they only can wish me luck as this situation unfolds on me.
Caller: unknown
Reply ! Artie
27 May 2010
Disgusting men or man....heavy thick indian accent although his name was Leo Fernandez.  Never had a loan and threatened me with law suit...I told him to bring it on....when I asked for information he said he would continue with suit....I told him to go right ahead. Claimed he can make it go away for a payment of $600 - what a joke......
Caller: Morgan they claim
Reply ! mk
27 May 2010
I got the same call from both 858-248-4848 and 858-248-4838.  Yes from India.  These are so bogus it's not even funny.  I will never return the calls because they tried the same thing back in December.
Caller: unknown/bogus
Call Type: Debt Collector
Reply ! JORDAN
28 May 2010
very heavy accents and they want me to pay money back to a payday loan company. they say they are lawyers -yeah right. i told them never to call me again because i have the atty general notified in their area and they are nothing but scammers. they wanted to say something else and i just hung up on them. will see if any more calls come in today.
Call Type: Debt Collector
Reply ! Mad as Hell
10 Jun 2010
Watch out they have a new phone number!!!  My wife has just got a phone call from 858-248-4830 about collecting some money and getting a lawyer and calling them back.  He had a heavy indian accent.  He could not talk about anything without a lawyer.  



****************WATCH OUT NEW NUMBER 858-248-4830**************************
Caller: Morgan associates
Call Type: Debt Collector
Reply ! jordan replies to Mad as Hell
30 Jun 2010
beaware another new phone number 443 333 1201 anna walker is the name
Reply ! Michael replies to jordan
8 Jul 2010
I received the same call from a Leo Fernandez. This is a scam people, these idiots are not even in the country. Do not pay them a cent, I took out payday loans and paid them back in full. I have the email records to prove it and confirmed it with the companies from whom I borrowed from. They confirmed that my loans were paid in full. These idiots are scammers, I cannot wait for them to call me back so I can make fun of them and threaten them back, it will be so much fun. In fact, I am trying to call them back and there is no answer.....
Reply ! jordan replies to Michael
14 Jul 2010
michael, one guy posted on one of the scammers phone numbers to call them and ask them if they know that 18 USC 1343 OR 15USC1692-1692P has been amended and then ask them where they can accept service. i did this on number 315 294 9466-one of many numbers. if they were a law firm like they say,they would of known what it was. the guy said to me'we are a law firm' we have no idea what that is. also called them back and ask for their legal dept. they got flustered and hung up. its funny to mess with these scam folks. it really works!  they dont know how to react when you say this stuff to them. they scam us-we mess with them.
Reply ! jordan replies to Michael
16 Jul 2010
Michael, some lady here in Indianapolis went to the TV station here with this scam. she even had a recorded msg the guy had left on her cell. she said at first it scared her,then she realized it was a scam. its on channel fox59 news here in indianapolis. maybe we should all do the same thing?
Reply ! jordan replies to Michael
19 Jul 2010
Michael, new phone number i got called from today from mr jenkins. threatening me again with his bs, 650 963 4918. the number on my caller ID was 352 861 8555. these scammers dont quit!
Reply ! 1 2

LONG RUNNING AND KNOWN SCAM - ALL OVER INTERNET AND NEWS
(COMPLAINT PROCESS AND WHAT TO TELL THEM IS BELOW IN ARTICLE)

Fake Debt Collectors ? Terrorizing Consumers

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1


MORE ON FAKE DEBT COLLECTORS
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-9141
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/call4action/17285785/detail.html
http://www.800helpfla.com/newsletter/2008/092008.html


http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm
Attorney General Darrell McGraw took the extraordinary step today of warning the public about a band of scam artists making threats to consumers who allegedly obtained Internet payday loans in West Virginia and across the nation. The consumers they threaten never obtained a loan at all or paid it off years ago.

Internet payday loans are short-term loans or cash advances, usually for 14 days, made over the Internet via interactive web sites and secured by an agreement authorizing debits of the loan and all fees owed from the consumer?s checking account. These loans typically charge interest rates ranging from 600-800 APR and are unlawful in West Virginia.

The scam artists, who speak English with a foreign accent, call themselves ?U.S. National Bank,? ?Federal Investigation Bureau,? ?United Legal Processing? and numerous other phony names. They refuse to disclose real names and addresses and are believed to be operating ?off the grid? from homes, automobiles, or from off shore locations or foreign countries, including India. Since the scammers have kept themselves purposely well hidden, thus far no law enforcement agencies have succeeded in locating or shutting them down.

The scammers typically pose as law enforcement officers, investigators, lawyers, and bankers and threaten consumers that they will be arrested for ?bank fraud? or other fictitious crimes unless money is wired immediately. They simultaneously scare and confuse consumers by using meaningless legalese gobbledygook phrases such as, ?We are downloading warrants against you? or ?We are filing an affidavit against you.? Consumers who don?t immediately fall for the scam are warned, ?Only God can help you now.?

The scammers almost always call consumers at work several times a day, and tell their supervisors, ?Your employee has committed fraud and is about to be arrested.? Such threats have proven unsettling even to the most savvy consumers and employers who suspect the calls are fraudulent.

Attorney General McGraw stated, ?Ordinarily my office protects consumers from fraudulent activities by seeking injunctions in court. But legal action cannot be taken until the scam artists can be located. Even then, it is unlikely that the persons behind the fraudulent calls and extortionist threats would obey a court order. In this case, the consumer?s best defense is to be armed with the knowledge of the scam so that all demands for money can be resisted, despite the false but scarey threats of arrest.?

McGraw added, ?Because the fraudsters make a special point of calling consumers repeatedly at work, employers must understand that the consumers are innocent victims of a criminal enterprise and cannot stop the calls from coming. I also wish to assure the citizens of West Virginia that my office will continue to do everything possible to locate and shut down the outlaw debt collectors.?

More information about this fraudulent debt collection scheme is available at the Attorney General?s website, www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam. Any consumers who have been threatened by these persons or wish to file a complaint about another consumer matter may do so by calling the Consumer Protection Hot Line, 1-800-368-8808, or by obtaining a complaint form from the Attorney General?s web site.

It's a debt collection scam. And all their threats are false and illegal.
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.    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.wvago.gov
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
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
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-310-499-9983


Scam alert: Bogus debt collectors
By Leslie McFadden ? Bankrate.com
Monday, Aug. 3
Posted 2 p.m.
Bankrate reporter Leslie McFadden contributed this entry.
This scam isn't technically about credit cards, but it is scary enough to post a warning. The Better Business Bureau issued an alert today saying consumers across the country are getting phone calls from bogus debt collectors claiming default on a payday loan. Of course, the consumer needs to pay a large fee to avoid arrest -- as much as $1,000.
The caller poses as a lawyer, and may threaten extradition to face trial if the consumer doesn't pay up immediately.
What makes these calls alarming -- and perhaps convincing -- is that the perpetrators reference the consumer's personal information, such as the person's Social Security number, driver's license number, previous bank account numbers, home address -- even personal references.
"The amount of information they have is really troubling," says BBB spokeswoman Alison Southwick. She adds that the amount of data points to a possible security breach.
Spread the word to your friends and family: Don't give out personal or financial information to an unknown caller. Scammers can spoof Caller ID to display different numbers, so trust your instincts over technology.
The BBB offers these tips:
?    Ask the debt collector to provide official documentation 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.
?    File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission online if the caller is abusive, uses threats or otherwise violates federal telemarketing laws or the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
?    File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau online if you believe a debt collector is trying to scam you.

Consumer Alert: Attorney General warns Kansans of debt collection scam

January 29, 2010 -- Attorney General Steve Six is cautioning Kansas consumers about telephone calls from apparent fake debt collectors who are impersonating law enforcement officers in an effort to extort money from consumers.   Consumers are warned to not submit payments to these fraudulent debt collectors.

When calling, the scammers most often state they are attempting to collect a debt related to an internet payday loan obtained by the consumer, but which the consumer never repaid.  Consumers state they have never obtained such a loan or paid off the loan years ago.  The scam artists have most recently identified themselves as ACS, National Affidavit Processing Department and United Financial Crime Division, but may use additional phony names.  It appears the phone numbers used by the scammers are ?spoofed? numbers, so that the number appearing on a consumer?s caller ID is not the actual number of where the call originated. It appears the calls in question may be originating from outside the United States.

When questioned, the individual calling refuses to disclose the full name or address of the collection agency they claim to represent.  These scammers have been able to provide consumers with identifying information, such as the consumer?s social security number, home address, e-mail address, names of family members and the consumer?s computer IP address.  Since the callers are able to provide valid personal information, consumers may become confused and believe they are being contacted in regard to a legitimate debt.

If the initial debt collection scam is unsuccessful, consumers have been re-contacted months later with the scammers posing as law enforcement officers or officers of the court.  Typically, the consumer is threatened with arrest for fraud or some other fictitious crime unless the consumer agrees to immediately wire money via Western Union.  The fictitious officers strive to frighten and confuse consumers into compliance by using legal sounding terms such as ?We?re filing an affidavit against you? or by stating a lawsuit has been or is in the process of being filed against the consumer.

A hallmark of each scam has been calling consumers repeatedly at their place of employment.  This scam hit home when an employee of the Kansas Attorney General?s Office was repeatedly called both on her cell phone and at work.  Despite the employee?s repeated verbal disputes, the caller refused to provide any identifying information to allow her to send a written dispute. The scammer also continued to call her numerous times a day regarding a payday loan she denied obtaining. Two months later, she was again contacted by telephone by an individual identifying himself as an ?officer?.

?I denied owing the debt and refused to pay without being provided validation of the debt. I was then told, ?If that?s the case, I will have local law enforcement come to your place of business and drag you out kicking and screaming?,? stated the employee.

?It is important for consumers to know their rights under the law,? Attorney General Six said. ?If a consumer is receiving calls from a debt collection company and believe it is a scam, I encourage them to contact our office immediately.?

Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), collectors are required to send consumers a written notice within five days of the initial contact.  The notification should contain  information such as the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed and a statement informing the consumer they have thirty days to contact the debtor in writing to dispute the debt or request validation of the debt. In addition, legitimate debt collectors are prohibited by the FDCPA from making false or misleading representations, such as the consumer has committed a crime, implying nonpayment will result in the consumer?s arrest, or using the threat of violence.

More information is available on the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf.

To register a complaint with the Kansas Attorney General?s Consumer Protection Division, call 1(800) 432-2310 or visit www.ksag.org.

http://www.ksag.org/page/consumer-alert-attor ... collection-scam

Dear Ms. toosmart:

The information you have provided is very similar to other complaints we have received, which also involve attempts to collect Internet payday loan accounts by persons/entities that do not properly identify themselves; making empty threats of legal action or threats of criminal prosecution in order to intimidate consumers into giving out their banking information to collect payment. This type of illegal debt collection activity has been occurring for some time. An August 2008 ABC News article on the issue is attached.

We suspect that the people that called you are not "a law office." As odd as it may sound, it would be a good thing if any of these "lenders" would bring a legal action; then we would at least know who we're dealing with. In either case, there is no lawsuit; they are just trying to "phish" for your personal banking information through intimidation.

We suggest that you tell the caller that they will get no information or payment from you unless they provide you written evidence of the alleged debt and properly identify themselves and their authority to collect the alleged debt. If they continue to call, continue to terminate the call, or just set down the phone and walk away. Let them rant all they want to; eventually, they will realize you're not going to give-in to their scam.

Since this group apparently has some personal information about you, you may want to file a fraud alert with the major credit bureaus: www.equifax.com, www.experian.com and www.transunion.com, and, perhaps, file a report with the Wisconsin Office of Privacy Protection (http://privacy.wi.gov); but before you do that, you may want to first get your free credit reports to see if there is any unusual information or activity there. All consumers are entitled to receive one, free credit report from each of the bureaus, once every 12 calendar months. If you have not yet used this process, or you did so more than 12 months ago, you can get your free report at the website specifically set-up for this process: www.annualcreditreport.com.

If you ever did have a payday loan, we may be able to track the lender and find out more about who may be calling you. If you have taken a payday loan on the Internet before, please give us the name(s) of the lenders and/or the web site address, as that information could also be helpful. If you kept a copy of the loan agreement, you may forward a copy for the file, if you wish.

Here is information we found for the "940" number you report as the caller's number:

Search Date:    Monday, March 29, 2010 8:12 AM
Phone Number:  (940) 580-2411
Line Type:      Landline
Phone Carrier:  Level 3 Communications, Llc - Tx
City:  Gainesville
State:  TX
County:        Cooke
Latitude:      33.6300
Longitude:      -97.1400

We are not able to locate information on the existence or location of a company named "Cooper Law Firm" out of Gainesville, Texas.

We note that you have already filed a report of this experience with the Federal Trade Commission.

You may want to contact Level 3 Communications, LLC http://www.level3.com/index.cfm?pageID=235 and file a complaint there, too, as well as with the Texas Attorney General http://www.oag.state.tx.us/agency/contacts.shtml, and with the Internet Crime Complaint Center http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx.


Sincerely,


Kathleen Hanna, Compliance Officer
Department of Financial Institutions
Bureau of Consumer Affairs
P.O. Box 8041
Madison, WI 53708-8041

It's a scam, and all their threats are false and illegal.  The bottom line is, these are criminals trying to steal your money.

Here are a few news reports and government advisories warning consumers about this scam:

ABC News:  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1
West Virginia Attorney General:  http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm
WTAE TV4, Pittsburgh:  http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/call4action/17285785/detail.html
Florida Commissioner of Consumer Services:  http://www.800helpfla.com/newsletter/2008/092008.html

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. 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, US Federal Bank, Sonic Bank, Hopkins Law Office, Christian Nicholas & Associates, CashNet, Financial Crime Prevention, National Crimes Division, United Legal Processing, Morgan Associates, United Pay Services, National Processing, White Collar Crime Unit, David Morgan & Assoicates 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.

These scammers 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."  Other trademark phrases include threatening the consumer with ridiculous phrases such as "If you don't pay then only God can help you" or "If you don't call me back then I can only wish you good luck."

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.)

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 (
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/1-904-425-9141
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-336-553-3965
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-909-6789
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/1-310-909-8245
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

LadyLuck that is a scam. They did me the same way but told me they were from Cooper Law Firm in Los Angeles, CA and his name is Brian O'Connor. I did research and called the Better Business Bureau and they do not exist. When I told him that they do not exist in California, he said that is because they are based out of TX.  I called that number one day and it went straight to a voicemail. If it was a law firm, it would have went to an answering machine and it would have disclosed the name of the company, not "Please leave a message for 315-982-6578 They called me again and I threatened them to never call me again or they would be in jail for fraud. He became afraid and said that he would never call me again.

called and said i owed some company money that i had never heard of.  told me i had till 3 oclock to pay.  he had all my info and kept asking me if it was correct and got mad when i wouldnt confirm with my info.  i told him i would investigate on my own and i found out it was fraud.  he also told me to go to hell and hung up on me.

Phony debt consolidation scam. They say I owe money that I do not owe. They have threatened me and are very rude. They are harassing me at work. I would love to find a way to stop them.