I got a call I agreed to pay money. But I never sent the money and now I have a police from my town caling aying I have a warrant. Im pretty sure its all a scam but im trying to find out who I can contact to find out.

One leg of this scam has been shut down:

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

Received a call this morning same info.. Threats saying I had a warrent for my arrest, called from same phone number.

Wanted money sent to Elizabeth Trice,   via Money Gram, I called Money Gram -Don't send any money     Money Gram told me they see this all day long.... I provided all of my information to be sent to their security department.

A Indian man called me with a similar scam.  The number he called from was 347-201-8600.  The first call he was looking for a Ms Shoo. so I informed him that he had the wrong number he then asked me to hold on.  I then hung up the phone he called back and asked me "Why did you hang up on me?".  I replied you kept me on hold for a long time.  He continued the conversation by telling me that I owed him $299 dollars from a previous debt.  I knew this was a scam because the Indian man nevered verified my name or address.  Anyway I just said sir I dont owe any debt and have a nice day.  He then tells me that if I dont pay he will send the FBI to my house.  I hung the phone up again.

Then the same Indian man calls back and tells me he works for the FBI and is at the police station now.  At this point I starting laughing so hard I think he was embarresed and hung up the phone on me.

The Indian man calls as Officer Douglas at 4pm I informed him I've been harassed by them for a year I do not want anymore phone calls from them. Tonight at 10:30 pm another on calls me from a different number telling me I need to pay 895$ within 14 days or I'm going to be prosecuted. Not sure if its the same scam or not but usually the same stuff being said. My name was  used by Micheal Greenlaw a former friend of mine as a gaurentor and that it was fraudulent and I need to get him to call them but then they call me to tell me I need to pay they are scum. Been dealing with this for almost 2 years now every time I tell them I'm going to pull out the SKS but to no avail he won't give me a location. :( Anyways he's calling from the 408 number and then 1-347-201-8600 and 1-876-352-0143 They answering machings say they are Officer John Henderson and then Mr Smith, Peterson and White.

I received a call on Monday while I was working.  I called the creap back.  My worry is identity theaft. Can anyone out there give me guidance on what to do next?  If I had the money I'd travel out there and beat him with my piano tuning wrench and stuff some felt down his throat!

Hey Robert,
Can this creap steal our identity. He had my ss number too.  I filed a claim with the local attorney generals office where I live,but what else can I do.  I'm not sure how to find the replies on this particular website. I hope I can find your reply on here.

SAid they were investigators... threatened arrest....want your info

Same thing just happened to me. Only this idiot called me twice and left 2 different names one of them being john anderson. Kick his sorry a... for me too please!

Well he called me 2 days ago left a message claiming to be detective John Anderson but I called back and his voicemail has different alias well im gonna do what most people think about doing but won't ever go thru with im going to get my moms boyfriend who is a cyber crimes FBI agent to track him down then im going to kick his door in and proceed to rip his flesh from his body I hate when I get a phone call from the police which happens often but to call and threaten imprisonment of 2 to 5 years state jail and don't have the badge credentials or a** to do so really aggravates me so im going to find and dismantle this piece of s*** towel on his head ********** he better pray that authorities find him before I do because he will be found and humiliated like he does to all the people he f**** with

I had an indian guy call me and i can hardly understand him he left a message told me his name was  Daniel or Dennis Scott it was hard to understand his first name he said he was from Sacramento law enforcement Criminal investigation with the aattorney general and they had a warrent for online raud for me and my 2 references i have no clue what he is talking about he said he would take us into custody if i didnt call back the phone number he gave me to call him back on isnt even a number it has one too many numbers in it 1-408-662-8-9181 i worried me cuz i dont wanna be in any trouble but i havent done anything. He didnt give me a badge number or anything seeign your posts makes me feel better but what should i do now do i just ignore it or do i report him to somebody. They never say what financial place i suposidly owe the money too cuz i was getting calls from a collection agency about the same thing and they had all my information there was just a few couple things that were a little off and i looked it up and found out that company was a fake also so i have been ignoring it and now i get this call on 8/26/11

I just got I call from this man. I am so glad that I saw the comments about this number. I could tell that he was lying. He gave his badge number and I didnt recieved a warrant. So I know he was fake and next time he call me ima cuss his butt out. And call the police and the FBI.

I received a call from an Agent Marshall today 7/18/11 on my home answering machine.  Light Indian accent and it sounded like he was calling from a cell phone.  He provided the last 4 digits of my ss #, one of which was wrong, also said something about the FBI and that If I didn't call him back, agents would be coming to my home and my job to take me into custody.  He also said my case would be downloaded to my local courthouse within 24 hours.  He was really hard to understand on the cell phone with all of the background noise.  And I'm also still waiting for them to come and get me from 11 months ago when they threatened to come to my job and arrest me then.

Called my cell phone stated my address and SS#. He said that i was in big legal trouble and better have an Attorney ready as i can go to jail for 8-10 months..I told him i didn't know anything he was talking about and he said he will be at my doorstep on monday to arrest me. I'm 14 and didnt know what the heck he was saying..

same hapened with me......

This happened to me but he had all my information -- social -- address--- bank account and numbers -- I filed a police report and emailed the Attorney Generals office of CA where (in my case) officer Stewart Marshal badge number 2961 claimed he was from

Just got a call from this number, saying he was agent Stewart Marshall from California Bureau of Investigations had a very important legal matter to discuss.  Left message on my work phone eariler that if I did not return call they would come take me to jail.

That POS also called me ...He was straight up Indian and stated that his name was "Officer  Douglas Black". with a fake badge # 31296...I called him back and then same man answers and gives another fake name..Claimed that I owed a payday loan form 12/2008 and then was threatening to arrest me and my family....I went off on him and told him I was just waiting for his sorry a** to come and get me. He claims that he was with a special team of FBI and Irs..I called everyone in FL and CA and he of course does not exist..I feel like calling him and harrassing him i feel that we all should...I also called the FCC and reported him too..Good Luck also that # shows up from Wedeng, China

Recieved a call and they said that they were going to send investigators to my job to take me into custody. I have no idea what this is even about but I wish they would leave me alone! They are very annoying

Called at 7:00 at work-his name is Officer Black and have case against me. He mentioned SS#

A gentle who called himself Office Brack stated he had case against my SS# and will proceed legal action against me.  He stated he was from American Legal Services...

I have received several calls from officer Black also. Lots of threats  for jail. I contacted FBI. They told me to ignore calls. It is fraud. Beware to all.

Caller said they were going to come and take me to jail over something I do not even know.