408-905-1910
CA, US
 | Nado 2012-09-13 15:49:31 Debt Collector |
Wow, I got called from 'Daniel Scott' and they got my last 4 # of my S.S. (puzzle!) I think that is scary and how they got know my S.S.#? Oh boy and how evil someone called me like this (smh).. I am not PLAYING A GAME and they told me that I OWE $400 and also, second time they told me $500.?? (PUZZLE) A different story never same.. That is SO CREEPY..
GET OVER IT!
GET OVER IT!
| RACHEL 2012-08-29 19:40:18 Unknown |
I ALSO RECEIVED A CALL STATING I OWED A LOAN COMPANY. I THEN FOUND ALL THIS POSTED AND REALIZED HE WAS TRYING TO SCAM ME OUT OF $569.32 THERE SHOULD BE A LAW AGAINST THIS.... SMH
| Alfalfa 2012-08-23 13:40:14 Unknown |
This is an extortion scam operating out of India. Let them know you are aware of this and have reported them to law enforcement, your attorney, the FTC and hang up.
Phantom Debt Collectors From India Harass Americans, Demand Money
By BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) , CINDY GALLI and MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk)
June 7, 2012
Hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped Americans have been targeted by abusive debt collectors operating out of overseas call centers suspected of links to organized crime in India, law enforcement officials told ABC News.
The calls are part of a massive scam, one that appears to target struggling Americans -- especially those who have gone online to apply for payday loans. Armed with personal information from those pilfered applications, the threatening callers, who claim to be debt collectors poised to initiate legal action, have managed to pry loose millions of dollars from their victims -- even when the victims never owed money in the first place.
"This is what we call a phantom debt collection scam," said Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. "It's a very pernicious and innovative new fraud."
Working through call centers in India, the commission estimates that the criminals have dialed at least 2.5 million calls, persuading already cash-strapped victims to send them more than $5 million. Some have reported receiving dozens of calls per hour. They are victims like Cindy Gervais, of New Orleans, who went online for a quick loan when her husband's car was hit by a driver who didn't have insurance.
Even though she paid the loan off, the so-called "phantom" debt collectors with Indian accents began calling to say she still owed money.
He more or less told me that if I didn't pay, they were going to have someone on my doorstep to arrest me," she told ABC News. "And that they were going to contact my place of business, and tell them what kind of person I am."
At first, she said she resisted. Then the calls became more frequent, and started to ring on her cell phone, and at the grocery distribution company where she had worked for 27 years.
"I was more or less was in panic mode because he told me there would be someone before noon at my place of business to arrest me and take me to jail," she said tearfully. "So I agreed to pay him."
After receiving scores of complaints, investigators with the FTC said they began tracking the calls, and following the payments. They alleged the payments led them to a California company run by an Indian-American named Kirit Patel, and that such scams would not be possible without American front men.
"I would say that all roads of this scam, or many of the roads of this scam, lead back to Mr. Patel," said the FTC's Leibowitz.
ABC News tracked Patel for weeks, from the suburbs of San Francisco to Austin, Texas.
Patel refused to talk. But his lawyer, Mark Ellis, said he believes it is far too early to pass judgment on his client. Ellis, a Sacramento-based attorney, told ABC News that Patel was hired for a nominal fee to set up an American shell company, and had no idea what the call centers in India were doing.
"I can tell you, he was as snookered by the people in India as anybody," Ellis said. "He's a 69-year-old man who is nearing his retirement who thought all he had to do was set up some corporations and everything was on the up and up. He's completely dismayed that he has become the lightning rod of this entire problem."
A close friend of Patel's also defended him in a brief interview at his home, saying Patel was not trying to defraud anyone -- he was just an unwitting, bit player in a larger scheme.
"If Mr. Patel was just a cog in the wheel he seems to have been a pretty big cog," Leibowitz said. "It is clear that Patel was integrally involved with this scam."
Leibowitz points to thousands of pages of financial and phone records gathered by the FTC and filed as part of a civil case brought against him in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento last month. When FTC lawyers sought to freeze his assets and prevent his business from continuing to operate, Patel responded by invoking his rights against self-incrimination. His lawyer told ABC News he has had to be careful in how he responds to the allegations in civil court "because there is a potential criminal action," but that Patel maintains the allegations against him are false.
Federal investigators said the phantom debt collection operation that allegedly benefitted from Patel's assistance was one of several that all trace back to the same small town in Western India called Ahmedabad. Callers use technology to make it appear that the calls originate inside the U.S. Victims provided ABC News with recordings of dozens of the calls, and many of the thickly accented callers appear to be reading off a script.
"Subpoenas have been readied, and Monday morning you're going to be picked up from your home," one caller says on a victim's voicemail. "And you have children. Don't worry about your children. We have a childcare department to take care of the children."
"You will be behind bars for six months," said another caller. "And once you go behind bars, you will lose your job. Once you are behind the bars, you won't get a single drop of water."
William Peerce Howard, a Tampa attorney who represents victims of harassment from debt collectors, said it takes an especially twisted criminal to use threats and coercion to pry money from someone who is already struggling financially
"These guys really are the most visible villains in America today," he said. "They make a living scaring people."
Mark Merola, of Florida, said he just panicked when the caller told him he might be arrested at the deli where he works in a Florida retirement community.
"I was nervous. I didn't want to embarrass myself, my family," he said. He used his debit card to pay the collector $576.
Afterwards, he says he realized "how stupid I was."
"It just happened so fast," he said. "I got scared."
Leibowitz said he hopes with more attention, future potential targets of the scam will recognize red flags before they turn over any money.
If callers say they are from the police, consumers should know that law enforcement officers do not collect debt for private parties. If the caller is speaking with a thick Indian accent, but calls themselves by a names such as Officer Mike Johnson, that should be a tip off. And if they're calling 40 times in two hours, that's another red flag. "Legitimate debt collectors, legitimate pay day lenders don't do those sorts of things," he said.
Merola said he would like to see anyone involved in the scam prosecuted aggressively.
"There's no place in society for these people," he said.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 16512428&page=2
Phantom Debt Collectors From India Harass Americans, Demand Money
By BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) , CINDY GALLI and MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk)
June 7, 2012
Hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped Americans have been targeted by abusive debt collectors operating out of overseas call centers suspected of links to organized crime in India, law enforcement officials told ABC News.
The calls are part of a massive scam, one that appears to target struggling Americans -- especially those who have gone online to apply for payday loans. Armed with personal information from those pilfered applications, the threatening callers, who claim to be debt collectors poised to initiate legal action, have managed to pry loose millions of dollars from their victims -- even when the victims never owed money in the first place.
"This is what we call a phantom debt collection scam," said Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. "It's a very pernicious and innovative new fraud."
Working through call centers in India, the commission estimates that the criminals have dialed at least 2.5 million calls, persuading already cash-strapped victims to send them more than $5 million. Some have reported receiving dozens of calls per hour. They are victims like Cindy Gervais, of New Orleans, who went online for a quick loan when her husband's car was hit by a driver who didn't have insurance.
Even though she paid the loan off, the so-called "phantom" debt collectors with Indian accents began calling to say she still owed money.
He more or less told me that if I didn't pay, they were going to have someone on my doorstep to arrest me," she told ABC News. "And that they were going to contact my place of business, and tell them what kind of person I am."
At first, she said she resisted. Then the calls became more frequent, and started to ring on her cell phone, and at the grocery distribution company where she had worked for 27 years.
"I was more or less was in panic mode because he told me there would be someone before noon at my place of business to arrest me and take me to jail," she said tearfully. "So I agreed to pay him."
After receiving scores of complaints, investigators with the FTC said they began tracking the calls, and following the payments. They alleged the payments led them to a California company run by an Indian-American named Kirit Patel, and that such scams would not be possible without American front men.
"I would say that all roads of this scam, or many of the roads of this scam, lead back to Mr. Patel," said the FTC's Leibowitz.
ABC News tracked Patel for weeks, from the suburbs of San Francisco to Austin, Texas.
Patel refused to talk. But his lawyer, Mark Ellis, said he believes it is far too early to pass judgment on his client. Ellis, a Sacramento-based attorney, told ABC News that Patel was hired for a nominal fee to set up an American shell company, and had no idea what the call centers in India were doing.
"I can tell you, he was as snookered by the people in India as anybody," Ellis said. "He's a 69-year-old man who is nearing his retirement who thought all he had to do was set up some corporations and everything was on the up and up. He's completely dismayed that he has become the lightning rod of this entire problem."
A close friend of Patel's also defended him in a brief interview at his home, saying Patel was not trying to defraud anyone -- he was just an unwitting, bit player in a larger scheme.
"If Mr. Patel was just a cog in the wheel he seems to have been a pretty big cog," Leibowitz said. "It is clear that Patel was integrally involved with this scam."
Leibowitz points to thousands of pages of financial and phone records gathered by the FTC and filed as part of a civil case brought against him in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento last month. When FTC lawyers sought to freeze his assets and prevent his business from continuing to operate, Patel responded by invoking his rights against self-incrimination. His lawyer told ABC News he has had to be careful in how he responds to the allegations in civil court "because there is a potential criminal action," but that Patel maintains the allegations against him are false.
Federal investigators said the phantom debt collection operation that allegedly benefitted from Patel's assistance was one of several that all trace back to the same small town in Western India called Ahmedabad. Callers use technology to make it appear that the calls originate inside the U.S. Victims provided ABC News with recordings of dozens of the calls, and many of the thickly accented callers appear to be reading off a script.
"Subpoenas have been readied, and Monday morning you're going to be picked up from your home," one caller says on a victim's voicemail. "And you have children. Don't worry about your children. We have a childcare department to take care of the children."
"You will be behind bars for six months," said another caller. "And once you go behind bars, you will lose your job. Once you are behind the bars, you won't get a single drop of water."
William Peerce Howard, a Tampa attorney who represents victims of harassment from debt collectors, said it takes an especially twisted criminal to use threats and coercion to pry money from someone who is already struggling financially
"These guys really are the most visible villains in America today," he said. "They make a living scaring people."
Mark Merola, of Florida, said he just panicked when the caller told him he might be arrested at the deli where he works in a Florida retirement community.
"I was nervous. I didn't want to embarrass myself, my family," he said. He used his debit card to pay the collector $576.
Afterwards, he says he realized "how stupid I was."
"It just happened so fast," he said. "I got scared."
Leibowitz said he hopes with more attention, future potential targets of the scam will recognize red flags before they turn over any money.
If callers say they are from the police, consumers should know that law enforcement officers do not collect debt for private parties. If the caller is speaking with a thick Indian accent, but calls themselves by a names such as Officer Mike Johnson, that should be a tip off. And if they're calling 40 times in two hours, that's another red flag. "Legitimate debt collectors, legitimate pay day lenders don't do those sorts of things," he said.
Merola said he would like to see anyone involved in the scam prosecuted aggressively.
"There's no place in society for these people," he said.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 16512428&page=2
| Flyer 2012-08-23 13:32:18 Debt Collector |
Got the same kind of call for Daniel Scott. I asked for some documentation on the loan and they sent me an email with the installment plan. His name is spelled two different ways and all my loans are being paid. Any advice on how to A) find out if this is real; and B) stop the calls?
| Dustin Palmer 2012-07-23 18:47:03 Unknown |
I do private security for a retired purple heart gulf war vetran and "she has recieved a call from this number portraying to be a loan collection agencey! further investigation has lead me to contact your company for this number's full contact information! your cooperation in this private matter would be greatly appericiated! respectfully thank you!
sincerely, "ret. sgt. Tina Christensen & Dustin Palmer."
sincerely, "ret. sgt. Tina Christensen & Dustin Palmer."
| KN 2012-07-17 18:37:48 Debt Collector |
SCAM! I suggest asking them their information right away. Address, phone, company name, names, file number etc. They don't have their facts straight. They gave me a Los Gatos phone number and an address that isn't real, Chula Vista, San Francisco, CA. with no building number. They will evade answering questions to confirm anything other than the information that you may have inputted to an application for a loan, such as your social or bank information. I asked them to give me the company name and my account & file number affiliated with that company as they should have that standard information if they are indeed acting as attorney for them. They actually said that they would give me that information after I paid them. Laughable. I just hung up.
The original caller, "Lisa", said they were from Peterson Law Firm and after I started asking her all the questions, she put on her manager "Billy Martin" who said they were from the Federal Financial Beurea of California.
The original caller, "Lisa", said they were from Peterson Law Firm and after I started asking her all the questions, she put on her manager "Billy Martin" who said they were from the Federal Financial Beurea of California.
| Chris 2012-07-03 17:40:27 Telemarketer |
Same thing happened to me today. Called, the guy asked me if Angela was here(wife). I told them they have the wrong number and to stop calling. They then told me to transfer them to a supervisor. I told them that this was my cell phone and not a business... He asked again, I hung up. He then called back 4 times in a row. I answered again, and he asked me if I was dumb. I then asked for a manager. He asked if this number was my work (it isn't). Then persuaded to tell all my info, including my wife's outloud. I hung up... I though too, looked into an online loan.
| RJ 2012-06-28 19:15:36 Debt Collector |
The same exact thing happened to me A woman with a heavy Middle Eastern accent called her self Lisa Smith called me and tells me she is calling from Peterson law firm and I have 3 charges against my soc sec number, that I must show up "at the courthouse with my attorney" and I have violated Federal banking laws. At this point I was panicking because a few days ago I filled out some online payday loan applications.I pursued ONLY one. Anyway, I figured this phone call had something to do with that. what was scary is that she had all my personal info such as bank name, account number, ss#, D.O.B, DL#, DL state, my full address, my work info including my paydates.I told her i would call my bank and call her back, I called my Bank fraud dept and they said they would stay online while i conference Lisa and they would like to talk to her. So i called back apparently i was told Lisa has left for courthouse and happened to speak with Daniel Scott, first he said he would be able to help me and after he said he had all my information and wanted to help i told him i had my bank Fraud dept on line and was going to conference him when he said that i will have to talk with Lisa as she is my case manager and she is the only one who is allowed to share the details. i knew at that point it was fraud. he hung up
| sharon 2012-06-28 16:19:40 Debt Collector |
these calls need to be stopped. how do we stop them?
| Larry 2012-06-19 00:04:10 Prank Call |
It is a scam thats been going on for a very long time
| Emily 2012-06-15 16:51:46 Debt Collector |
Daniel Scott-THIS IS A SCAM. DO NOT PAY ANYTHING!!!!
| Emily 2012-06-15 16:43:57 Debt Collector |
I got a call from Daniel Scott saying I owe $ for a payday loan(the amount was strange) and I need to pay the 1st installment to avoided legal action. I was told if I didn't pay the 1st installment in two days then it will be forwarded to the sheriff office and a warrant would be issued for my arrest. First thought was Oh, crap because I did owe money but then I did some research and called the company I owe money to and set up my own repayment. I believe this is a scam.
| Vicki 2012-06-13 19:16:06 Unknown |
Received a call saying to call them back as soon as possible before the situation unfolds on me. Then if I don't call them back they "wish me luck". This is the 3rd call I got from them. I believe it is a scam.
| Lisa 2012-06-13 17:47:42 Unknown |
The same exact thing happened to me like the complain above me. Couldn't understand what was said truely but bits and pieces. Daniel could not give me what I owed money too and when it happened and he said that when I pay him the money he will send papers telling me what for. Then a lady with a very heavy accent call s stating she is from the police dept. She said if I do t pay today with a green dot card that I will have a police officer to arrest me. I called the California police department and they told me it was a scam.I was given. A call block number to block them..here it is 408-9051910.
| Samantha 2012-06-06 20:32:22 Unknown |
Keep calling saying they gonna get me for three federal charges. This is a scam
| patty 2012-05-24 19:57:41 Unknown |
Caller name Lisa
| Patty 2012-05-24 19:56:42 Debt Collector |
Got another call from them saying have your lawyer contact me about legal action being taken against me.. Hung up on them....
| John 2012-05-15 20:04:37 Unknown |
Oh yeah message said his name was Daniel Scott.
| John 2012-05-15 19:53:39 Unknown |
Left a message at my work saying it was urgent. Didnt know the number so i looked it up. It is in a state that I don't live in or do business with. I think it might be a scam where they get you to pay a fee to prevent legal action. Don't pay them anything. Tell them your attorney will be contacting them shortly.
| Lorrie 2012-05-04 00:20:35 Prank Call |
A woman with a heavy Middle Eastern accent left a message on my office answering machine while we were at lunch. When I got back, I listened to it and could not understand what she said except for my name. I didn't call back, because I was busy and figured I'll just deal with it later. About 2 hours later she called again, and is so unintelligible that I said "I can't understand you. Please put someone on that I can understand". So she said "I'll transfer you" (hmm...I understood THAT) and then a man with a similar accent comes on and says he is Daniel Scott. He goes on to verify my name, last 4 digits of my soc sec number, and I ask "what is this about?" and he tells me not to interrupt him, then verifies my birthdate and tells me I have 3 charges against my soc sec number, that I must show up "at the courthouse with my attorney" and I have violated Federal banking laws. At this point I start to panic because a few days ago I filled out some online payday loan applications just to see what rate I could get. (I actually did find one that allows early repayment to reduce the interest, so I pursued ONLY that one, and just "blew off" the rest). Anyway, I figured this phone call had something to do with that. Then I realized, I didn't actually DO anything wrong, I don't owe any of them, except the one I did finalize, and my payment isn't due for 2 days yet. So I just said "I haven't done anything wrong. Goodbye." and hung up. That's when I searched the phone number, and got this website.
| Anthony 2012-05-03 21:01:00 Unknown |
Keeps calling me at work... Name is 'Lisa Smith'
| marissa 2012-04-26 19:57:52 Unknown |
keep calling at work. Caller's name Lisa
| mv 2012-04-26 18:04:26 Unknown |
After being told over and over again not to call me at work. They keep calling.
| TONYA ROSS 2012-03-29 20:19:05 Unknown |
I RECIEVE A CALL AND I NEED TO KNOW WHO NUMBER THIS IS. THANK YOU!
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