tried calling back and they hung up on me.   Scammers need to stop trying to steal from people who actually work for their money instead of steal.

One leg of this scam was shut down several weeks ago:

Even scam artists are outsourcing. On Tuesday in its first crackdown on fraudulent telemarketing in South Asia, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it was shutting down two California-based companies that used a call center in India to defraud Americans out of more than $5 million over the past two years.

Workers in India made threatening calls to Americans getting them to pay money on debts that they didn't owe, the FTC charges. At an FTC press conference in Chicago on Tuesday, fraud victim JanLaree DeJulius explained that she had received a call from someone claiming to be an enforcement officer from the (phony) "Federal Department of Crime and Prevention," who threatened to have her arrested and have her wages garnished if she didn't pay a bill of more than $730. The scam artists had gotten her name and information from a payday loan her ex-husband had taken out in her name.

"It was very embarrassing," Dejulius said. "He knew everything about me so I agreed to set up an installment." She is not alone. According to the FTC, more than 8 million calls were made since 2010 and at least 17,000 transactions processed across the United States related to the global scam.

On Tuesday under request from the FTC, a U.S. District Court in Chicago stopped the international operation, charging Varang K. Thaker and two companies he owned, American Credit Crunchers, LLC, and an affiliate Ebeeze, LLC, with violating the FTC Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

"This is a brazen operation based on pure fraud, and the FTC is committed to shutting it down," said David Vladeck, director of the FTC's consumer protection bureau. "Consumers should not be pressured into paying debt they don't remember owing. Legitimate debt collectors must provide consumers with both written information about the debt, and instructions for protecting themselves if they don't think they owe the debt."

According to the FTC's charges, Thaker used Social Security numbers and bank account numbers obtained from payday lenders to identify the victims for his scam. He outsourced the work to an Indian call center, where workers made threatening calls to American consumers to pay fake debt or collect on bills for which they were not authorized.

Thaker was not available when contacted by telephone on Tuesday. A woman who claimed to be Thaker's older sister and asked not to be named for privacy reasons said he is working with the FTC to help the Indian government pursue the fraudster call center operators. She also said he was innocent in the scam. "He was being used by somebody. He didn't even know where they got the information," she told The Huffington Post by phone. She said that her brother got 10 percent of the earnings from the scam operation.

The FTC charges against Thaker are the latest in a series of police actions by the government agency to put an end to rogue debt collection operations that have become more frequent in the aftermath of the Great Recession. In January, the FTC struck a $2.5-million settlement with debt-buying company Asset Acceptance, LLC, charging that the company had falsely represented itself to customers, including making up phantom debts that customers no longer owed. Last October, the FTC filed a complaint against seven other fraudulent debt collectors, alleging that they had engaged in the same techniques -- demanding money from customers who owed nothing at all.

The growing number of Americans who are unable to pay their bills has meant there are more companies looking to profit from their economic difficulties.

Debt collectors have been taking more aggressive tactics as fewer people are able to make ends meet or are in a cycle of debt. More than 30 million Americans are in debt collection, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Since 2010, more than 4,000 complaints have been filed with the FTC and state attorneys general about fraudulent debt collection calls, the FTC said.

Charles Junitkka, a personal bankruptcy attorney who represents clients in the New York City area, said, "In the last few years, the desperation of the collectors and their efforts have intensified because of the economy."

This story has been updated to reflect comment from a woman who says she is the sister of Varang Thaker. Thaker himself was unavailable for comment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/ftc- ... _n_1289751.html

I came in to work today and received a phone message telling me a David Walker fro
PCS wanting me to call him back at 347-960-0610.. When I called that number some guy who could barely speak english claiming to be David walker's supervisor said it was a legal matter that I was being sued for not paying back a pay day loan from cash advance USA for 300 I told Jim I never received no money from no one and to send me paperwork and he yelled at me saying why he would have to send paperwork and that I can just fight it out in court and he hung the phone up on me.. This is not the first time I have been called from these people I have gotten calls from these people on and off for the past year and they have even called and left a rude voicemail yelling at my boyfriend saying I need to pay or I will be sued for thousands of dollars these people need stopped

Very rude people threatening jail......can't even believe what this world is coming to.  They said they were with pcs law firm....

A David Walker called me at work today. Gave me the last 4 #s of my SSN and names what city I am a resident of. Hwo did they get my information? And why are they calling me at work? They said it was a legal matter. They gave me this # to call back and said his name was David Walker but his indian accent certainly does not sound like a David Walker to me. Where can I report this number to?

Received a call from a guy named Ed at my work number and threatened me and also called me a F'in Bi*** and all sorts of names.  At my work number he threatened to call my manager to tell them what I have done.....then he proceeded to call my cell which my fiance has and proceeded to call me names because he thought I was the one that was on the phone.  Fiance let him go and go and go until he started swearing and calling me names and then he found out who he was actually talking to. To say the least my fiance was not happy at all! He said he had three legal complaints against me.
Someone please stop these calls.  I did take out a payday loan and it was paid - but in the past 6 months I have had to close my accounts because of these SCAMMERS!
This is getting totally out of hand.
the number was 347-474 something and then on the message he gave me the number of 347-906-0610
I am sorry I didn't get the caller company because I was fumming.

Just received a call from this number. Mr. David Cooper stated that I had taken out a cash advance loan back in 2010 and that it was never paid back. Stated that it was through Cash Advance Usa for $300. He refused to give me the number for CashAdvance USA and threatened me with a court appearance. I'm sorry to say but with any cash avance place they always get paid back because it comes out of your bank account on your pay days. This is a fraudulant place of business. Also, no one with the name of David Cooper has broken english and an Eastern accent!!!

I just received a call from this number (on my cell and work #) and could hardly understand the person leaving a message.  I am glad i read the comments from everyone else. I didnt understand much of the message but i did hear him say that he was Officer David Cooper and i need to contact him immediately or God will be the only one that can help me.

Complaints can be filed with your state's attorney general office and the federal trade commission.

Please someone let me know if you have any information on who I can call to take care of this AND REPORT THIS! I paid out over 2000 cause they threatened to arrest me if I didn't. I am sure I will never get any of that money back now.

Someone called from this number for someone else and when I called to have my number removed they asked me if I had a hairy p**sy and if they could suck it. I hung up and called back and he told me to "put it in your a***ole you moth******er." I told him I was going to report them to the authorities. Now I want to - who are they and where can I do it? This is ridiculous!
Low lifes!

Just got a ph call from this number saying that i owe money on a payday loan (which i never got)& if i cant pay that they could get an attorney for me.
HAHAHA I'm way on top these f****rs someone needs to figure out where their workin from & blow the joint up!!!!!!!
All i can say is they dont scare me & their a bunch of low lifes that can't get a job & try to rip people off for money..

( LOW LIFES )

I started reciving calls from these same guys a couple of days ago. They call 15 times in a row. They know all my info but the company they claim to represent I don't owe any money to. They say they cannot send any documentation out until I send the authorization forms. I told him he was a fraud and not to call me and he called back threathening me to take me to work. The number shows up on my phone as 347-121-2121 but the 960-0610 was on the paperwork they wanted me to sign. I almost fell for it.

I keep reveiving these same calls. I printed out my bank statement for a year to show that they never deposited money into my account. They cannot be understood because of the language, and they were actually swearing on the phone. What a scam...they actually call my work also. These people need to be stopped.

It started about three months ago with a phone call saying they had three lawsuits on me when i ask for proof and copes of the paper work for said loans as well as the mail fraud case they claimed they had against me and how much did they say i owed ???? they did not answer me, I have scents received three more calls plus one message left on my friends business answering machine giving threats as well as info, i received calls at 10:30 at night givIing threats to me and my family members as well, i called them back but they cant speak English, or understand it

This is getting ridiculous.  I just got a call from this number also saying there was a legal case against.  I needed to call them back to resolve the matter.  Also spoke with broken english.  They said they have all my information but I am really getting upset because they called my work.  I have already reported on a differenct number to the attorney generals office.  I guess I will need to report this one also.

Please, no way in the world a man who talks w/ this accent would have the name Mark Black!
He said that he has my social security number and legal action would be taken out on me in 10 days.
I'll be calling the FBI fraud unit to report this phone number, their threatening tactics and scam. I do not owe money for any loans, and recently dealt w/ the same thing w/ a different phone number.

I  just received a phone call and could not understand because of the broken English.  I do not know these people and never heard of them.

received a phone call from this company, said they were a law office, had my personal information
and said that I took a pay day loan on line and did not pay it down. Said they were going to sue me for this and I should obtain a lawyer for my defense.  The first  person that  called me was
Vicky Garcia. She also called my sister and left a detailed message about a loan I took out.
I never took any on line loan from this company and my bank records can prove that no money
was placed into my checking account from a pay day loan

Just received a call from this number with treats of leagal action being taken against my ssn for unpaid pay day loan, which is untrue, I will report this number to the proper authorities.