if you have verizon you can block these calls ! I just did both numbers..it last 90 days but you can renew it after the 90 days..

People called me with heavy accents and said myself or my lawyer needed to contact them ASAP about some legal issues. They wouldn't give me any information, and they were EXTREMLY RUDE! They wanted me to pay for some loan i never got, and only when I told them I talked to the Sheriffs department and my lawyer, did they say they wanted to settle out of court.

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 just received a call from Jason Smith- He has changed his # it is now a 209 area code.. What is so funny about these idiots is they have already tried this scam on me back in February. Not sure if I am going to calll them back and have fun or just ignore them..

These guys are complete morons that know nothing of the legal system in California. One is a Hindu and "Jason Smith" sounds like a cheap kung fu movie actor...i.e. not American. They tried to pull the same thing on me saying that I was being charged with 3 felony counts of fraud. If you get a call from this number I strongly encourage you to have fun with them. Like pretend you are a lawyer yourself or talk back to them in a heavy made up accent. Its a load of fun I promise! Or if you want to go a step further start handing out their number and have friends and family have fun pranking them too.

I just received this call. However it wasn't for me, and this person gave me his social security number, birthdate and address. I found it strange that someone would call my house so late with this information and asked if they sent any documentation stating what they referenced. Jason Smith and Frank Johnson are the two idiots that irratated me during dinner. I'm putting a call in my states Attorney & Inspector Generals. I don't want my personal information to be announced much less hear of some strangers! The Johnson fellow said our conversation was being recorded to the court house, and I asked him which one, as we have several, our conversation turned dark after that. It didn't seem to be a bother that I wasn't the person he was looking for. REALLY CREEPY!!

I have also received an automated call from this number from a Tiffany Ortiz no accent but just a recorded voice identifying herself and that we owe on a loan, no information on how much, or when it was done, nothing. My husband and I have been calling them back to pull more information from them. Seeing your feedback has help me realize this is all fraud but we are still investigating into this before lawyers are involved. When we call they have changed the court date and say items have been transferred to our state well we have call all of the county clerks and ask for the case# and we found nothing. I personally believe if your not personally served then there will be a court date after until then, wait and see.

I forgot to mention that I called the Attorney in Lake Forest who the bar # belonged to.  I left a message.  He just called me back and and advised me that this is a scam and the bogus company has been contacting people all over the nation.  He said the good news was they would not be suing me, but the bad news was one of my creditors sold this company my information.

Received several calls from (714) 066-6000.  They always left a message stating they needed to talk to me or my legal counsel.  I finally answered the phone today and was told I could either go to court or pay $750 today, (for a loan I never received) with a debit card or credit card.  I ask who I speaking to and he told me he was an attorney in California.  I asked what Law Firm he represented and he told me that he would only provide that information to my attorney.  I then asked him for his California State Bar # and he gave me #228445.  I checked http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member.aspx and found the number belongs to an attorney in Lake Forest (Southern California).  The number I was told to call back was (408) 689-9969 (Northern California).  I told them I would NOT pay anything until I received documentation.  I was told that only my attorney would receive the documentation and I would have to bring my attorney and my employer to court.  They then told me to hire a criminal defense attorney.  I told them again to send me documentation and was told they would see me in court, God Bless and then hung up on me.

called my house phone & left a message:
"call back because you owe a $750 loan and we will be taking you to court. letters will be send to your job. have your lawyer call. good luck. "
said his name was Alzaner Benchod.
knew that i used my email for transactions.
knew my job name, made me kind of nervous.

saame here .

Called my Job, was very rude to my coworkers, stating his name was Jason Smith, and I owed some loan I never heard of in my life!  Called my cellphone and left messages to call and I would be arrested and stand trial in California.  Report or send a letter to your attorney general if anyone receives calls like this.

got a call it said a different number on my phone (714-006-6000)he repeated this number and said "to call him or ELSE, & good luck & god bless YOU"
he had a strong accent.. don't answer our phone with these 2 numbers ! it is a scam !

Tried to collect on a loan I never took.  maybe stolen identity case?