A man called me at work he had a heavy accent, but said he was Tom Sanders from THE LAW FIRM.  He also stated that he had a case against me for a pay day loan, (which I have never had).  He told me that he would come to my place of business and have me arrested.  This is a SCAM!  I almost fell for this about 6 months ago and now they have returned.  When he called me today, I told him he was a liar and that I knew he was a SCAM at which time he hung up.  If you get calls from these people DO NOT give any personal information to them.  They are trying to rip you off.

I just received a call from them, when i called there bluff.  The heavy accented individual told me he was going to come to my house and kill me, and then he said some horrible things about what he would do with my dead body, these people are disgusting I would love to have them arrested.

I just got a call from this number stating that I owed money to some cash advanced company out of Houston, TX. For one I live in Iowa and this man I could barely understand with his heavy accent. He said his name was Mark Jones. I told him that this was a scam and that I would apperiate them to stop calling me. I also told him that he should be ashamed of himself for tring to scare people out of there money around the holidays and with this ecomony. He began to threaten myself and my family. I contacted the local authorities. SO PLEASE DON"T BE FOOLED BY THIS HUGE SCAM!

Heavy accent...said his name is Daniel from the Lincoln Law Firm...wants you to return his call immediately because my ss number was downloaded and a subpena will be served.  They call every 15 minutes.  I have asked them to send me something in writing if they had something I owed them for.  He then tells me that they will come to my job and arrest me.  I have yet to receive anything in writing, they just keep calling.

I got a call from the same person from the law firm - it said to call back 209 265 0413 - I checked the caller ID it said 360-519-5344 - that person did the same thing.  I asked if they are in the states and he scoft and said yes and then would not tell me what the company was that he is talking about...then I told him he was pulling a SCAM and he hung up.

These people are just amazing.  I am continuously receiving calls from a man with a heavy accent.  I know I have not taken out a loan and therefore enjoy the pleasure of telling them where to get off at.  The man is a fraud.  Do not, please do not entertain this peice of crap.  Just called again!!  Do we as citizens have any privacy anymore.  I'd like to get information on him and flood him with harrasing calls!

These people are just amazing.  I am continuously receiving calls from a man with a heavy accent.  I know I have not taken out a loan and therefore enjoy the pleasure of telling them where to get out at.  The man is a fraud.  Do not, please do not entertain this peice of crap.

Told me his name was Frank Thomas.very heavy accent. I figured out something was way wrong when he called me twice on Thanksgiving!

not only did they say a law suit was being filed or have my social, they had my bank routing # and my account #. Who is slling them my information??
WE should all get together and just start  calling them constantly and harrass them

Someone just called me from 3605195344 (heavy, heavy accent) (Patrick Marcus then Martin) stating that I had a payday loan (which i never had!) When I told him I never had a payday loan, he stated he made a mistake...and that the loan was for $300. I again stated that he was mistaken and that he could go ahead and press charges, he said I would be arrested. I told him to go for it! He asked me my last name I said you tell me and I also said what's my social security number and then I said send me proof I didn't sign anything. He started yelling at me and said he was doing his job. He put me on hold to find out my ssn but I hung up.

I also just received a call, his name was  shaun mathews... the number called from was 3605195344 but said to call back at 2537850869. Says that there is a lawsuite against national payday loans, that there is a suit against me. Someone help. who do i report this too.

This number calls me all day everyday. He is extremely sarcastic. He knew the last 4 of my ssn and thought he knew my birthday. He used the same legal line...

Really annoying.

'Dan Morgan' just called me about the legal case that will be downloaded soon at which time I will be served a supoena. I told him I knew this is a scam and that I don't have a payday loan with anyone that has an outstanding balance. His response was of shock that I dared to accuse him of being part of a scam and that I will soon find out. I told him to send the paperwork in the mail and I will respond. I told him things are done this way in America- companies don't just sue you without previously attempting to collect a debt with letters etc... He asked for my attorney's info and I told him I don't have one, send me the info and I will respond. I then told him to quit calling this number (my office) and hung up.

I have had numberous different numbers call me - the last go around in August was filing a case in NY for a $300 loan I never had-  Now this guy said the case with Cash advance was pending in WA. I have been called by a California number as well...all have heavy accents with very american names claiming I took out a payday loan and never paid it back. The payday co name is always different but the premise is the same. After the very first call I received I figured out it was a scam after contacting my attorney who assured me not to worry and NOT TO GIVE OUT ANY INFORMATION! I have reported them to my local authorities but have not reported them to the FBI or Attorney General at all... I don't have time for this. They have threatened to have me arrested, made idle threats to my childrens future, my job, my references saying they will be arrested for fraud as well, my boss saying he will lose his business. WHERE DO THEY GET OFF AND HOW CAN WE STOP THEM?

Someone just called me (heavy, heavy accent) stating that I had a payday loan for $500, (which i never had!) When I told him I never had a payday loan, he stated he made a mistake...and that the loan was for $300. I again stated that he was mistaken and that he could go ahead and press charges, he said I would be arrested and hung up.

Totally a scam...but how did he get the last 4 digits of my social security number? Phishers are getting smarter and smarter, how can we fight this?

told me that they have a legal case agaist me for a pay day loan a took out and they were going to take me to court and have a officer come get me if didnt pay them.

more about this 3605195344 #
I find if you dial #672092650413 or #673605195344 (this blocks your #) and crank call them, get tranferred to their "supervisor" then let them have it. they will stop calling. It only took four times to annoy them and they haven't called back.
A report from consumerfed.org on payday loans lists pdl companies, whois, whether they are licensed or  a secure website. unfortunately most only claim to be secured, so applying to them can leave you hanging in the breeze

I am tired of receiving calls from this number as well as 000-000-0000, 424-244-6058, and God knows what other numbers they call from.  Like some of the comments I have read they like to threaten you about a debt.  I have been cursed out and had the pleasure of returning the favor to him.  The people are annoying and its people like them that make you not want to use the internet in any way.  Please be careful and do not give these crabs, low life any of your personal information.

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

this number keeps calling not speaking very clear english saying that my attourney needs to get ahold of him before I go to jail! wtf?????????????

These people have called me several times. They use routers to place their phone calls. These are devices from what I understand are disconectable as soon as they finish using them, also they change phone #'s as soon as they succesfully complete a scam and get money from someone. I have kept every voice mail any of them have left me, and I try to get them to E-mail me the so called legal papers stating there is a fraude case against me. But one thing that I have found that seems to work, is: and I don't just use it as a threat, I really do make the reports. I let them know that I will be reporting their company to the following. The Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Banking Commission, the F.D.I.C. Home Land Security, the F.B.I. and the Federal Communications Board. What they are doing is a Federal Crime. I hope if these agencies get enough complaints regarding these issues they might work harder at coming up with a solution and a way to catch these people. They are not afraid because they are in India somewhere, and most likely their laws don't cover these things, and we can't touch them. But maybe if there are enough complaints and tragic stories about what these people do, we will initiate something to take care of this, even in their country.

I got a 10 calls today from that same number.  I have requested validation of debt from these scammers and still they send nothing.  They keep changing their name but the voice is always the same.  So I decided to answer and pretend I did not know who they were calling.  We'll see if they keep calling.  There needs to be a law forbidding these people from even operating a business, if you want to call it that.

I got a call from "Kevin Jackson" with a super heavy indian accent, he asked me to pay to avoid legal case with a company I borrowed cash from. I never borrowed any money from that company really, but my wife did sign up on a couple of online sites as we needed cash advance a few months ago. So, they knew her email and her bank. We never borrowed a cent from them.
The guy was very aggressive once I figured him out, threatenning etc. I had him guess the amount that we "borrowed" and he had the answer for anything - when I said we only got 430, not 500$ deposited, he started a long talk explaining to me what the "principal amount" is and blah, blah...and he said that 30% was the fee...and we never got that amount either.
It seems that he and his team are somewhere outside US and they act as (fake) lawyers and paralegals representing some cash company. At the end, he said that local sheriff will be sent to subpena me to go to court to pay my debt, so that is a typical threat they are using to scare people into paying them. This is targeted toward poor people, and that is why it really made me angry. I tried to make him talk and say something that I could use, but apart from being so obvious what kind of fraud they are running, nothing else came up that would help me find out where they are and who they are. At the end I simply stopped acting and I told him :"I hiope they catch you" and "You thought of all the details, but everyone gets caught in the end". And I really do hope they end up in jail, here or in India. If I had some extra time, I would dedicate a site to catch these criminals, maybe something like "private eye" on

these people dont give up they threaten u and harass u to no end plz notify ur place of employment i have found if u accuse them of a scam they have stopped before  but they always come back   i have reported them to my local fbi office and they have told me they have received calls on them before but they move their operations before they cn be caught  scammers

They have been calling my employer and harrassing them.  They are saying that they need to talk to me and that I have committed fraud and owe them money.  It is illegal for anyone to contact your employer ( per our local police and sheriffs dept).  These are companies whom have equipment that can tap into your information and pull up info.  They then call and demand money saying that you owe them and that you have to pay by a prepaid debit card or you are to give them your banking information.  We have turned everything over to the police dept and it doesn't even phase these people.  They laughed when my office manager told them that she had contacted the police dept.  Plus they are constantly changing their phone numbers as well.  If you get any calls that come up 000-000-0000 that is them as well.  Something needs to be done to catch these people.

This number keeps calling my phone the late can barely speak english. Why are these people allowed to call people and scam them out of money. Stating that they have committed fruad from a loan company. These companies are selling personal information to any and everyone. Please be careful