I got a call from someone with trying to disguise an East Indian accent calling himself "Justin Simon" who tells me that it is a "warning call" and that either I or my "retained attorney" need to call back right away, with the melodramatic warning that if I don't then "all I can do is wish you luck as this situation unfolds on you."  Oooohh, scared!

They are scammers pretending to be a collection agency. Don't answer the phone and if you do by mistake, don't give them any information about yourself.  If they ask you to confirm any information they have about you, don't do it.

Report them to the FCC - it's free.  They use different numbers including from your local area code if they can get it.  Best advice is to just let it ring unanswered.

Got the exact same call at home and ignored it, now dud is calling my work. He said he was with UNLV and gave me the same story. So tired of this. I don't answer calls at home that I don't know the number, but have to answer all calls at my office. I am going to report this to FCC and hope this stops. It is really annoying. Thanks for the post, I wanted to know if it was happening to anyone else.

I have had 4 messages the exact same. Now there calling a friend of mine, any suggestions.

Got a phone call to my work phone.

The below represents the various phone #'s I am instructed to call back.  Most of the numbers come up on my caller id as 0000, unknown or 132-005-4348.  The script is the exact same on each message except the person's name is different OR the company name they use.  This is extremely annoying since they call me at work.  I just let them go into voicemail.  I was on vacation last week and the called my work 14 times.  Out the 14 times they left 5 messages.  
253-242-8924   Donna Jones
863-578-4580   Michael Redman (from the "American Law" firm)
917-284-9294  Jack Dawson (from ACS "Affadavit Consolidation Services out of NY)
303-747-5932  "Officer" Robin Wilson (Department of Law and Investigation)
213-286-0298  Donna Jones
347-369-4982  Nancy White
347-369-4982  Kevin Lee
**
Last week I called them back from my home # which I blocked.  I informed them they have broken about 6 laws.  That they are all over the internet and have been noted as scam artists.  I do not owe them or any payday loan company money.   They fail to provide written documenation every time I ask. They get verbally abusive.  I have told them that every message they have left has been kept.  Every time they call it is logged and that all of my calls to them have been recorded.  They call with the same script, with different #'s and different company names.  They are ignorant and are classless utilizing these tactics and that they will be caught.  I then hung up.  Not less than two minutes later "kevin" left a message on my work voice mail.  The funny thing is that when he was leaving me a message I could hear others in the background leaving messages to other "victims".  These idiots just don't get.  So far no calls today.  They usually call around 10:00, 1:00pm and 4:00pm EST.

I read all of the messages and I've gone through every single situation except for the work part.  His name was Jason and he threatened to send my credit information to my current work place.  However, when I asked about when I owed him money, he refused to tell me when.  Also, my old bank account was already closed due to fraudulent situations like this in the past and I had already paid off all of my cash advances.  I know that I did because my father also kept close monitoring and my husband to make sure that we were all on the same page.  This needs to stop and I'm reporting this now because I'm sick and tired of these calls, especially right before Thanksgiving.

Just got another call from 0000 when I checked the voicemail, a man with a forgeing accent informed me he was Jacob Morris.  He said same thing that it was time sensitive matter and that my retain attorney or myself better call back do not disregard this message and if I dont call the only thing he can do is wish me good luck and that I would be in serious trouble if I didnt call back.  The number he left was 347-369-4982.  This messages are very annoying and THESE PEOPLE ARE SICK.

Get a horn....when they call, pick up the phone and blow it in their ear.  I have been dealing with these j.o's since January.  Always call with a different #.  I have informed my work and the people I listed as references on a payday loan from 18 months ago.  Which was $300 and paid back on my next paydate.  One of my friends said one of them already called her and told her that since she was listed as reference she would be liable...  She told him references are never held liable for someone else's debt and they need a new script because this one is getting old.  She then told him to go &(*#$&(%& himself and hung up.  He called back.  She blew his ear drum out.  He/they haven't called her since.

I got a phone call from "0000", when I checked the voicemail, a man with a very prominent Indian accent imformed me he was "Jacob Markson". The voicemail was static-y, what I could understand told me that this was a "very time-sensitive message" and if I didn't call the number provided I would "be in trouble." Total scam.

Received a phone call today on my cell phone which the hard to understand guy said I need to call ASAP to 347-369-4982 that his name is Jacob Morris and this is a time senstive matter and myself or my lawyer better call and if I dont all he can say to me is wishes me the best of luck.  These people are INSANE!!!!!    When they call the cell it comes up 00 and then when they leave a message they leave these weird numbers.  He said is was like a Law firm he was calling from.

These guys are quite annoying, but if you really want to get under their skin call the caller a "bhan chod" or "maadaa chod" which is a great insult in Hindi. The caller lost it and became so irritated, I then hung up and he kept calling back for about 15 times in a row. It definitely gets under the caller's skin because it means "sister f*cker" and the second one is "mother f*cker". At least you now have a little Hindi to get under their skin for a change.

I received a call from this number today. I have received one about a year ago from Nevada. I gave them my attorney last time, but this time I verbally out talked them. But it is a scam and I intend to report it to the Colorado Attorney Generals office. Hope someone can put a stop to these idiots.

Thank you for all the information you provided.  I have been receiving these calls for about a year now, and just didn't know what to do about them.  They have been from different companies, different names, and different numbers.  I have threatened them by telling them that I am contacting the attorney generals office, but they still keep calling me, even at work.  They have even left messages stating my SS#....nd if they have mine, they probably have everyone elses that they are calling.   Maybe if enough of us report this, something will be done.  This is just not right, and is very unethical.  None of us deserve this!  Thank you again for your posting.

I received a call today at work from a David Walker at 347/369/4982 and the phone number didn't work. When I looked the number up on google, it brought me here. Total Scam

Well now it seems they've gotten my new phone number! I had a message today from "Kevin Lee" and when I called back he changed it to "Roger Miller", what an IDIOT!! I actually laughed so hard that my stomach hurts! How can they possibly think that they're believable?!? Anywho, I've once again reported them to the feds and local law enforcement. Have faith, these people ARE being investigated and raided, it's only a matter of time until they get to "Kevin/Roger" or whatever his name is at the moment. Hang in there!!! :-)

I just got a voicemail from he says his name is James Green advising me to call back if I don't then I will be sorry and good luck to me. This is crazy at my place of business. If he was smart he called me last month from a different number and name and I kept record of it. Its the same voice. Before he told me they were going to take my children and I was going to Jail for a long time. They really need to learn how to speak english first they really can be upsetting if these post weren;t available. When he calls back I have a joke for him. I am going to do just what he did to me.!!!!!!!

I get these calls all the time and it must stop.  The first thing I do when I get a message that says "It is very important that you or your attorney of record to contact the second you get this message.  This is time sensitive, if I do hear from you or your attorney all I can say is Good Luck in how this unfolds on you and God Bless.  I look up the number to see whoi it is and if there are complaints against them. It is a scam.  Don't fall for it.  Why can't anything be done about this.  They call me at home and at work.

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

The name I got was Brock Lewis...he even called my work number..and told my co-worker that I will have a law suit...if I don't call back,,,

he almost had me until i started asking questions back he couldn't answer. And why did he not speak english. Anyway a friend of mine told me to google the number. I'm glad i did, wow look what i found. Guess i wasn't the only one being bothered at work by this man.

I just got the same call at my place of work, but imma call back and give him the same scare tactics. First try he did not pick up and their was no answer machine or voice mail. what kind of company does not have a voice mail. Anyways what im about to do I am pretty sure they wont be calling no more..

My brother and 2 other friends of mine get these phone calls all the time.  Saying the EXACT same thing!!  We have determined that it was probably due to a "PayDay" loan he took out a couple of years ago, as this is the ONLY company or financial institution that he and my friends all had in common.  My brother and I are going to be contacting the Attorney General, along with our local news station for an investigative report.  This is utterly ridiculous.  The scare tactics and intimidation these people use must be stopped!  Good Luck to everyone that is getting these calls- ban togethe and put a stop to this SCAM!

I have made several complaints about these people to the FTC since 2008 and nothing has been done. The scammers also say they are ACS Affidavit Consolidation Service and attorneys from American Law Division. They have been harassing me for over a year. I have traced down their numbers to their cell phone providers and have called law enforcement but to no avail.

Called again today-my monthly harrassment.  Name was Frank Wilson this time, with a very strong Indian Accent.  Same line of ............!  I cannot believe there is not a way to stop this stuff.  I have reported it to the FTC, FBI, Department of Consumer affairs in my state, the local police department--I guess this will continue unless someone bigger than these organizations can put a stop to it.  If I knew who they really were, I could start a lawsuit for harrassment.

I agree with all of you that the scams need to be stopped.  This is the third time this year that I have received these calls from different places in the US.  I have a chronic illness that stress triggers greatly.  Even though I feel that they are scams they are still troublesome and cause me burdens.  I feel all the victims need to get together some how, and bring all this foolish to an end.

I wish there was something that could be done about this scam- he constantly calls all the time and even called me at work.  What is strange is that he goes by different names like officer Butch Parker ; and Andy Gibson and my last call was from Jerry Jones.  lol   They have left several different call back numbers as well.   213-286-0296 and 303-518-5557 and 347-369-4982.  Seriously !

TOTAL SCAM

A man by the name of Sam Parks called from a company he called LLC Law Firm and told me it was just a courtesy call to inform me i would be served papers at work tomorrow for a defaulted payday loan from about 3 years ago.  He told me not only would i be going to court but he was taking my company also.  Which made no sense, and I should make sure I have another job lined up cause i will surely be fired.  I of course was panicking.  While talking to him on the phone i reversed his phone number which came back to a cell phone, as well as searched the company.  And much to my surprise the only thing that came up for the company was numerous fraud and scam charges.  He then told me i could stop the court proceedings and the fines and even telling my work if i produced $1600 today for back loan and fees ($400 was the original loan I believe) or wait and be charged that along with over $5000 in fees that would also be charged to my job.When I asked him to talk to my lawyer he said if i hung up the deal was over and my lawyer could talk to him after e bailed me out.  So i went from being delivered papers to being arrested.  I told him since i was a single mother and all i could find about his company was fraud claims i had to protect myself but if my lawyer said it was legit I would pay today.  He refused to talk to him and told me to find someone to take care of my family cause i would be going away for awhile.  I then lost it and told him to have some respect and that i guess he would have to see me in court and hung up.  This is a scam and had i not had access to a computer to look it up he may have scared me into it.  Its disgusting and something needs to be done