I applied for a loan through Money mutual and check n go, was denied, then starting receiving calls from various loan companies offering me money. When I turned down one particular company, 'cash loans' some Indian guy named Paul threatened to take $120 out of my account for a cancellation fee. He had ALL of my information. Once I froze my account they said they were sending the FBI to my house to arrest me and I won't be able to make a loan again anywhere for two years. This is really disgusting. I have to change my banking information and alert all the companies I'm paying bill to. I'll never apply for a payday loan again!

I received a call today from supposedly some attorney's reception telling me to call 3237862924. I called and a person calling himself attorney Mark johnson? told me I had criminal charges against me for money oweing to advancecash.   I hung up as I have gotten other calls from these people.  They are always of a foreign decent.

Tell them your state attorney general has been contacted and someone will be at their door to arrest them.

This is "Attorney Thomas Williams" has been harassing me.  And I am not the person he is looking for.  This has been going on for TWO MONTHS. You would think the piece of work would realize and stop calling.  No, instead  he changes his number, and he has done this at least 8 times.  I have 8 different numbers that this man calls from.  Calling sometimes 10 times a day asking for a Kyla Shaw.

At first I answered and I told him that he has the wrong number.  I have asked to be taken of the list and then he wants my information so that he can take it of the list. I have also not asnwered, explained nicely the he has the wrong number etc. To no avail he still calls. I blocked the numbers all 8 of them that he uses.

Today I get a call from another number 347-390-0752 with a  message for me to callhis hotline 323-786-2924 as soon as I get them message.  This time his message is a threat. I or my attorney must call back or else, he can only pray for me and that I have God on my side. Because this is a time sensitive matter that needs to be addressed. It is a man with an Indian accent. I also filed a complaint with the FTC.

This man claims he is an attorney and that hes trying to collect a payday loan. He states the ocmpany doesn't want the loan or the principal, they wants court fees. Which total $219, he said I was gonna be arrested at work and that they were gonna notify my employer. Wierd thing is a guy called me 1st and directed me to this Mark Johnson...and now I know hes a scam the mroe I thought about it cause I said when did I get this loan, he replied last week when I asked what date he said I don't know last week you know....he had no info on this...at all!!!!

they called me today saying that i would be arrested at work and they would notify my employer and when i asked the date of this loan he responded with...ur last loan....and he got mad the more I asked

He's not the Mark Johnson listed in the lawyer directory for California (totally diferent phone number)

"Attorney Mark Johnson" and others have called my number asking for Kayla.  I am not Kayla!  My number is on the Do Not Call Registry, however they insist on still calling.   I have had this number for since 9/11. Even after I have told them repeatedly that I am not Kayla, they have the wrong number and the number is on the do not call registry they still call.  Sometimes they call 5-10 times per day.  It is very annoying to say the least.  The calls come in when I am working.  I cannot have calls coming in every fifteen to 30 minutes that has nothing to do with my business.  And my mailbox is full because he leaves messages.  They use multiple numbers to call from different states.  First they wouldn't give me a name nor the name of the company.  Asked to speak to a manager, who is always at lunch, even when it should be dinner time.  Now they are trying scare tactics to have an attorney call.

Never had a loan with this company and he stated I am being sued.  Have told him to stop calling me and that
i have never had a cash loan .

this person name John Poindexter he's a CEO with Flite Star Trading LLC
it's locatd in fort lauderdale florida and inresting thing is he's also growing the pay loan scam buss. and he's also with this indian scams
so guy's the people from the same country they also suporting this scam oprat's by an indian scam artist.
i need a favour from u all to report this guy john poindexter his number is (305)-505-8806.

Okay so we have been receiving these phone calls for the last few days. I decided to call them back this morning after reading the comments below. When the man came (Justin McDonald) on the phone he began telling me that they have a lawsuit against me for a payday advance and that a criminal complain was filed. When I began asking who I owed money to he just kept saying "don't you know you owe this money", as I pressed further asking what company I owed money to, he said "don't your know what a payday advance you b*tch." Then he hung up on me. Wow was I blown away. So I decided to call him back this time I got a Adam Garcia on the phone, before proceeding I told him that our conversation was being recorded.I told him that I am going to report him to the authorities because what he was trying to pull is a scam, he then called me a SOB and hung up! I called back again and asked for Adam Garcia again he said he was Adam Garcia. I told him that I knew what he is trying to pull is a scam and morally how can he try to take food out of the mouths of our children this way.He said don't worry you don't owe anything and hung up! What dirtbags!!

I also recieved a call that I had a lawsuit pending against me. I could barely understand the man as he was from the middle east. He wanted me to send money to him. It is a scam.

Left message on voicemail threatening legal action. Horrible sounding computerized indian voice.

I got seven phone calla today from this number and called them on there scam do to them saying money went into an account closes foe a year I also turned them in to the f t c .....which told me if they call back than let them know.....now they calling private .......this is bull crap ans if they know this is going on then someone needs to do something and make them stop harassing people.

I recently lost my mother and tried getting a payday loan to take care funeral expenses because she had no life insurance. I now am getting threatening phones calls stating bad luck will fall on me and my life is going down hill! I called back they knew who i was right away knew my social security number and you can not understand a damn word they are saying! i had my sister call they wouldnt answer her number! they some how have my bank account number too but i closed that out is there anyway they are going to do identity theft or anything like that? Should I notify the police

Keeps calling me and saying that bad things will happen from some indian call center saying that I owe money, he knows my social, and claims I got a loan and that I have criminal charges against me and if I don't give my attorney's information the sheriff will arrest me! this is a SCAM!!

Same thing happened to me today. A scam artist threatening to send the police to my job for a loan I never took. Lol I told him so go ahead and send them, I've come from a place where people get locked up for real crimes. So all that tough talk over the phone doesn't scare me. Don't be a fool and pay these guys. The police have much bigger fish to fry then someone who even defaults on a measly loan. Nevertheless if you "didn't" get the loan. Next time they call I think I'll give them a reason to sue me...Since I'm going to go the hell off LMAO...

ThEy called, the exact number and left. Voicemail telling me I need to call back or my life will unfold and they said my ss number. Possible???

Got a call at my work from this bogus number how they got my work number is beyond me what a scam!

I have been receiving alot  of calls regarding unpaid loan that I have not ever received.

Hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped Americans have been targeted by abusive debt collectors operating out of overseas call centers suspected of links to organized crime in India, law enforcement officials told ABC News.

The calls are part of a massive scam, one that appears to target struggling Americans -- especially those who have gone online to apply for payday loans. Armed with personal information from those pilfered applications, the threatening callers, who claim to be debt collectors poised to initiate legal action, have managed to pry loose millions of dollars from their victims -- even when the victims never owed money in the first place.

"This is what we call a phantom debt collection scam," said Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. "It's a very pernicious and innovative new fraud."

Working through call centers in India, the commission estimates that the criminals have dialed at least 2.5 million calls, persuading already cash-strapped victims to send them more than $5 million. Some have reported receiving dozens of calls per hour. They are victims like Cindy Gervais, of New Orleans, who went online for a quick loan when her husband's car was hit by a driver who didn't have insurance.

Even though she paid the loan off, the so-called "phantom" debt collectors with Indian accents began calling to say she still owed money.

He more or less told me that if I didn't pay, they were going to have someone on my doorstep to arrest me," she told ABC News. "And that they were going to contact my place of business, and tell them what kind of person I am."

At first, she said she resisted. Then the calls became more frequent, and started to ring on her cell phone, and at the grocery distribution company where she had worked for 27 years.

"I was more or less was in panic mode because he told me there would be someone before noon at my place of business to arrest me and take me to jail," she said tearfully. "So I agreed to pay him."

After receiving scores of complaints, investigators with the FTC said they began tracking the calls, and following the payments. They alleged the payments led them to a California company run by an Indian-American named Kirit Patel, and that such scams would not be possible without American front men.

"I would say that all roads of this scam, or many of the roads of this scam, lead back to Mr. Patel," said the FTC's Leibowitz.

ABC News tracked Patel for weeks, from the suburbs of San Francisco to Austin, Texas.

Patel refused to talk. But his lawyer, Mark Ellis, said he believes it is far too early to pass judgment on his client. Ellis, a Sacramento-based attorney, told ABC News that Patel was hired for a nominal fee to set up an American shell company, and had no idea what the call centers in India were doing.

"I can tell you, he was as snookered by the people in India as anybody," Ellis said. "He's a 69-year-old man who is nearing his retirement who thought all he had to do was set up some corporations and everything was on the up and up. He's completely dismayed that he has become the lightning rod of this entire problem."

A close friend of Patel's also defended him in a brief interview at his home, saying Patel was not trying to defraud anyone -- he was just an unwitting, bit player in a larger scheme.

"If Mr. Patel was just a cog in the wheel he seems to have been a pretty big cog," Leibowitz said. "It is clear that Patel was integrally involved with this scam."

Leibowitz points to thousands of pages of financial and phone records gathered by the FTC and filed as part of a civil case brought against him in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento last month. When FTC lawyers sought to freeze his assets and prevent his business from continuing to operate, Patel responded by invoking his rights against self-incrimination. His lawyer told ABC News he has had to be careful in how he responds to the allegations in civil court "because there is a potential criminal action," but that Patel maintains the allegations against him are false.

Federal investigators said the phantom debt collection operation that allegedly benefitted from Patel's assistance was one of several that all trace back to the same small town in Western India called Ahmedabad. Callers use technology to make it appear that the calls originate inside the U.S. Victims provided ABC News with recordings of dozens of the calls, and many of the thickly accented callers appear to be reading off a script.

"Subpoenas have been readied, and Monday morning you're going to be picked up from your home," one caller says on a victim's voicemail. "And you have children. Don't worry about your children. We have a childcare department to take care of the children."

"You will be behind bars for six months," said another caller. "And once you go behind bars, you will lose your job. Once you are behind the bars, you won't get a single drop of water."

William Peerce Howard, a Tampa attorney who represents victims of harassment from debt collectors, said it takes an especially twisted criminal to use threats and coercion to pry money from someone who is already struggling financially

"These guys really are the most visible villains in America today," he said. "They make a living scaring people."

Mark Merola, of Florida, said he just panicked when the caller told him he might be arrested at the deli where he works in a Florida retirement community.

"I was nervous. I didn't want to embarrass myself, my family," he said. He used his debit card to pay the collector $576.

Afterwards, he says he realized "how stupid I was."

"It just happened so fast," he said. "I got scared."

Leibowitz said he hopes with more attention, future potential targets of the scam will recognize red flags before they turn over any money.

If callers say they are from the police, consumers should know that law enforcement officers do not collect debt for private parties. If the caller is speaking with a thick Indian accent, but calls themselves by a names such as Officer Mike Johnson, that should be a tip off. And if they're calling 40 times in two hours, that's another red flag. "Legitimate debt collectors, legitimate pay day lenders don't do those sorts of things," he said.

Merola said he would like to see anyone involved in the scam prosecuted aggressively.

"There's no place in society for these people," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 16512428&page=2

This caller which has different names every time he calls goes by Frank Johnson or Jeff Scott has been harassing me over the phone and also leaving voicemail saying that I owe a pay day loan and that I need to call him back on this sensitive matter or have my attorney call. Then he states that God should have mercy over me and I should ask for forgiveness for being a thief.  He had also called my place of employment and said that I need to call back about a sensitive matter. This guy haa a heavy middle eastern accent and is very unprofessional. Whatever he is trying to do is a scam.

Left a message at my work for me to call re: a very serious matter.

These people are harassing me saying that i owe money to them for a loan that i never had. Tgr man called me a s**t and said that i a stupid n**** and i need to take care of my loan.