I got the same phone call today they had me  scard these people r not good its not right out of them to do that to people I think they should be in trouble for that

I have a message saying to grab my debit card to stop the download case aganist me also threating me to contact my employer regarding my case. Also telling me that i can pay a $786.69 debt or if i refuse i will be totally levied to $4515.85 excluding my bail charges, attorney chages and the $786.69 i owe.

I have pulled credit reports and this amount doesn't even exsist plus I haven't done anything that would cost me this much toward my credit.
The number they are asking me to contact them at is now 1-718-841-6480.

Call is coming from India, but it has a Califormia number associated with it. These peple are very crafty pay day loan scammers that will try their hardest to convince you thatt you owe on either an account that's been long paid or or towards an account that doesn't even exist. They will try to make you think that you are delinquent in pay day loan charges. These charges are fraudulent. And, they will try to even use whatever personal informaition they can illegally get on you to make you feel guilty towards owing a debt that you dont' even actually owe.

Don't fall for these overseas scammers, that are pretending that they either work for a collection agency, law enforcement, or even attorney agency.This is just one of the numbers that these scammers use, but there are more. Don't give them any money no matter how many unreal and crazy threats they may through at you. Because, no they will not send anyone to arrest you, they will not send someone the next day to your house with court papers, and they are not affiliated with no real collection agency or attorney firm even though they may come with such lies.

If you get phone calls from these fraudulent liars, then definitely contact the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, and even you State Attorney General's office. As, this type of harassment needs to finally be stopped!!!!

Who is the owner?

Hey guys, I am doing my part. These jerks called me about a week ago and claimed I had a payday loan, which are illegal in my state. They were very rude. I asked for the documents about my case and if they could be faxed, they refused, and said they would fax them to my lawyer. So my "lawyer" called, and they said they would fax them in 5 minutes. My "lawyer" called again after a hour, and they became very defensive, saying they were being harassed by the "lawyer". I called about 25 more times, and was hung up on everytime. Then I said to myself, let me try one thing. So I called back from a private number. Told them I was returning a voice message, when they asked for the number I recieved the call on, I gave them a bogus number. They asked for my name and of course gave them a bogus name. They were "searching" for my records and some how mysteriously found them. They proceeded to read the same line of BS they had when I first called under my real name a few days before hand. They gave me the option to clear up the $1100 payday loan with Visa/Mastercard. When it came time to give them the CC number, I proceeded to blow them out of the water, and told them who I really was. You could hear two or three people in the background, saying hang up, hurry hang up. lol. Losers! By the way they also own 408-625-4862. May I suggest that each and everyone of you who reads this call these jerks and mess with their head. It will make your day.

I justHad a call from a company identifying themselves as ACS Legal and was told a law suit had been filed against me. I had a scam call such as this last year so I knew it was fraud. I played with the indian who could not speak english well. After several minutes he stated: " your president is in my country and I am going to blow his a** out of the sky." I told him this call wouild be reported to the FBI. Do not let these idiots intimidate you!

He called and said that it was regarding my social security number. and he call previously to this call and i hung up on him and he called me stupid, he said if i didnt call him back he was going to contact my supervisor, and manager, he said there was major concenquences....!!! LOL The number was (917-284-9294)...SCAM'S...SCAM...SCAM...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I JUST CALLED TO YELL AT THEM AND TELL THEM THAT THEY WERE A SCAM, A MAN JOHN YEA RIGHT, GOT SO MAD THAT EVERYTHING I SAID HE WOULD REPEAT TO ANOTHER MAN IN INDIAN! I EVEN GOT HIM TO SAY YES WE ARE A SCAM, WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW. FYI CALLING AND YELLING AT THEM WAS AWESOME!

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 got a payday loan in June of this year; I fell into a financial hardship and was not able to pay it off, leaving a balance of 600.00 on my account. I called the payday loan company, Cash Net USA, and made payment arrangements. Then I got a call at work from an unavailable # 000-000-0000, a man with a strong Indian accent answered and asked to speak with ?Apple? my name is April. I asked who was calling and he wouldn?t tell me so I hung up. I got two more phone calls within 5 minutes so I blocked the number. Then he left a message he stated his name was Officer Zack Wilson from the legal department of ACS and that my account was being forwarded to the courts and that there was a law suit against my social security #! I immediately called the number he gave back (646-918-5986) because he had my address, telephone #, date of birth and social security #. I spoke with I think her name was Michelle, she stated she was the supervisor for Zack and that Cash Net USA forwarded my account to her because I didn?t pay my balance, I tried to explain that I already made payment arrangements with the other company but she wouldn?t listen to me. She was very rude and said I?m just trying to do my job, if you don?t want to pay the balance with us you can go to court on Monday, and fight this case. I didn?t have any court notices and I told her this, she stated that was not her problem if I wanted to settle the balance with her I could make a payment of 300.00 and the account would be closed, I told her again that I already made a payment, then she said well you will just have to fight this is court. I called Cash Net after I spoke with her to get my receipt of my payment plan because I thought this was real. The woman from the payday loan said asked if the person I spoke with had a thick accent I said yes and she confirmed that this was a scam, she told me not to give them a dime and forwarded me to a compliance line, and I left a message and hopefully will get a call back. My payday loan company filed a report with the better business bureau, I also file a report with the FTC, all three credit bureau, my bank and (homeland security -989-497-0580) and made all aware I was a victim of identity theft. The officer at homeland security was aware of this scam and told me the next time they call explain to them I was aware they were a fraud company and that I have forwarded their information to homeland security. He assured if I tell them this the calls will stop. He stated this company was out of India, and they have hacked into PayDay Loan companies to gather their information.  They have so far but I will keep posted.

John, u go man I've had the same ppl tryin to pull the same thing with me about 2 days ago. I have been blowing up number 6469185986 and they are getting so mad!! I love it they keep flippin out wanting to know who I am and what do I want from them. Ha hope they get screwed outta sum scams by me doin that. Dial *67 in front of the number and they can't see urs even if its a cell. If u get joy outta making a bad day for these ppl just keep callin them and don't say anything. Its funny to cause they try to send it to vm on their end after a few calls, wait 5min and then call back they will pick up again. 8 have already called my state atternoy and plan to nail these guys to a wall!!

I have been getting these same time of calls from some indian sounding pe ople.  Names r jim smith and mike something and a woman named kathy watson.  Only the number is 6469185986.  Also from ACS legal department .  Is the number associated w the numbers u all have put in here?  I am scarded and don't want to lose my job or be hurrased daily.!

I FIRST RRECIEVED A CALL FROM THESE PEOPLE STATING THEY WERE THE FBI AND THAT THEY WERE GOING TO COME AND AREST ME. THEY GUY HAD A VERY SRTONG ACCENT, ASKED FOR A CASE NUMBER, I HUNG UP. ABOUT A MONTH OR SO LATER THIS SAME PERSON CALLED BACK STATING THE SAME THING, I CHANGED MY HOME PHONE NUMBER, ABOUT A WEEK OR SO LATER THE SAME GUY HAD GOT A HOLD OF MY WORK PHONE NUMBER. I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO PLEASE HELP.

I have received multiple calls telling me that i owe money from a payday loan i took out in september of 2008 that did not get paid back. I have paid $703.00 back already and keep receiving these calls. The latest was from a Bryan Wilson 315 294-9466. Someone please help!

Received several calls last week from "Robert/Matthew Wilcox" at (818) 296-4014 and "Sean Taylor" at (201) 234-4078. Neither caller would identify what company they were from. After the first message I received, I called back claiming I thought I had a wrong number so I could find out what company I was calling. They identified the company as American Credit Services (ACS) Legal Department. I did some web research and found numerous postings about this scam.

As with other posters; had to ask several times before they would identify they were calling from ACS and they refused to provide any information and/or documentation on the amount owed (a huge red flag). I was told, when I called back, that my call "is being monitored by the court." Uh huh. Here's what I did to try and get them to stop calling:

1. Documented each call received (date, time, number, and name of caller), what caller said in their message, and noted any threats made (e.g. "if you do not call back, you will be the one to suffer the consequences").

2. Filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and provided them with information in #1. I'm prepared to file complaints with federal and state law enforcement agencies if ACS begins calling again

2. Called back both individuals I received messages from and, after they refused my request for details about the so-called debt owed, I informed them I was aware their call was part of a scam, that they were attempting to extort money from me and were harassing me, and that I had filed a complaint with federal authorities.

3. I ordered them to stop calling me at work or at home and told them if they continued to do so, I would file a complaint with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security


I haven't received any calls within the last few days, which seems to be a good sign since they were calling me several times a day last week.

This guy is leaving  the same threat on my work phone at least twice a day.  He wishes me "good luck" if I don't send him my attorney's information.  What a jerk!!  I will be contacting the FBI and Homeland Security immediately as well as contacting my attorney regarding suing this company!

I received a call yesterday from an Indian sounding guy stating his name was Andy Jones ok sure. I politly asked yes how may I help you Then he got real aggressive real fast shouting out my social and saying are you this person? I remained calm and asked what this call was about. They returned with I need your Attorney's information. I replied I represent myself and if you can't give me informaiton I can't help you so send it to my address on record. I hung up. Got in this morning and hey had left a creepy messgae like I wish you luck if you don't call me back etc. Very threaten people for no reason if I knew what it was I would take care of it but after going through a divorce and with a crook I have no idea how much of my info is out there and I am still disputing things on my credit report.

a man by the name of mr. lopez called and said i made an internet wire transaction and am being sued and must be in court june 11th.  i called back to let them know i never did such a thing and that what they're doing is fraudulent.  then i called the fbi and homeland security as well to let them know i reported them, however this time no one picked up the number.  :)  this is a scam, they got my info too and how I DO NOT KNOW!!!!!!  but this obnoxiously loud call center must be shut down.  there is already a fraud alert on my account for people like this but this is very scary that they knew a couple of my friends names.

called these fools back and sent them on a tail spin.. instead of being nasty i got in a more "profesional" manor, seemed to turn the s--- head on...what a bunch of creeps

I also got a call but mine was from a rachel Williams 408-625-4862 when i called back i got a David Jones then someone named Ray with no last name, who wanted my case number, when i said i don't have one he went into the same shpeil as everyone else got. i did call the last place that i took a loan out with and they said it's a scam and gave me the number for Homeland Security 989-497-0580 or www.FTC.gov to report the complaint. i asked the guy from Homeland security if i should call these people back and tell them that i reported them and he said i could. i actually gave them the number for homeland securtiy.. then proceded to call them back with a false name and took all my frustration and anger out on the a--hole that answered. that actually felt pretty damn good, i told them that they had no idea who they were screwing with

oh my god!!! these a***oles called me too. i called the department of homeland security 989-497-0580
then i called these fools back and cursed them out. that actually felt pretty good. told them they didn't know what kind of a crazy b--ch they had just calle. i called my bank as well and put a fraud alert on my account, but i moniter my account daily and good luck to them..

i have delt with these people before and they did a storyon ABC news about them. they are scammers and what happens is when you default on a loan, payday loan etc, they have a "bill collector" which is usually a small company buy all their deliquent accounts and try to get you to payback more than what the loan is worth. then sometimes, they will put this on your credit report which brings your credit score down. ACS, Blueline Captial, Nationwide Capital Recovery and Marauder Corporation are all one company ran by Ryan Gambill. there is a thing called a "phone bank" and what happens is they  buy all the phone numbers and threaten you with court etc. ask them for your file number, the exact amount and date and a copy of your contract. ask them for the company ID # and what state they are licensed in. ask to speak to their manager or corporate office and ask for their address and watch how fast they hang up. report it to the police because they have your pesonal info..just to make a report, then complain to the BBB, State attorney Generals office in your state, teh FBI and the FTC. its a lot but hese people need to be stop. they can cause you to loose your job, your money etc so stop them in their tracks. they called me for 2 months straight so i did a little investigation and found all this info and i havent heard from them since. i asked them for the court document, a copy of my police warrant, affadavits etc and theyhung up. they tried to call my frined yesterdat and i let them have it and i threatned them as well. you can contact all these on the interent but cover your self and just report it. they look so stupid in the end!

This same phone number called me 5 times today. 1st time said his name was James Austin, and then said his name was Steve Richards.  I did not answer but the messages and the way he talked was creepy. I did call back and was informed that he worked for ACS legal department and that I was going to be arrested if I did not pay back a loan I took out with US National Bank.

I also recieved an call from a person who had an indian accent telling me about a payday loan i didnt pay back. the number he call from (973-482-3624) wasnt even in service when i called it right back.........

I got the same excact phone call as KK saying that I had to be in california tomorrow and that I had got a internet loan and that I didn't pay it back and that it was a criminal offense and that he was going to fax all my information to my boss which don't know how they got her name, what scares me is if this is a scam that they have all my personal information, my ss#, my Bank Acct. info, they also ask me if I had not heard of it saying they have sent me like 10 emails OK WHATEVER!!!! So has anyone filed a complaint I did.

I also received a call from some Mike or Mark Anderson - how could someone with such heavy accent/broken English have an American name like that, I have no idea, but this person called me both on my cell & work, and I have no clue what he said or tried to say - couple of things I remember is that the voicemail he left sounded like a threat ( things like "this is your last chance, if you dont return the call, all i can tell you is Good luck" and mumbo jumbo like that). As far as I know, even if it is a legit collections call, under the Fair Collections Act no one can threaten you or call you before 8 am & after 9 pm. If you speak with a person on the phone and request that they not contact you again, they are required by law to obide your request (as long as they are collection agencies, not the original creditor). It sounds very fishy that I got this call, and have no clue how they got my work number!

Follow up.  Called back and talked to a Mike Anderson who proceeded to tell me that there was a law suit and I needed to be in a California courthouse tomorrow. He said he needed my attorney's information.  I asked what this was for and he said you've never heard about this before, Oh my God.  He proceeded to tell me that he could read me an affidavit and some other language I didn't understand and I told him I don't know what that means and to send me the information in the mail.  He hung up on me.  In researching this phone number and ACS Legal Department it seems these people are scammers.  Be careful.

Called me 3 times and left messages on phone.  Said good luck if he didn't hear from me.  Could barely understand what he was saying due to heavy accent.  I don't know who these people are.

Called me on Memorial Day and threatened with law suits.