i got a call at work and first it was a officer charlie mason and like 20 minutes later they called me at work same number this time was some indian guy named "alex" and he said that he was calling me to let me know that i was being arrested for 3 counts 2 i dont even remember but the 3rd one was theft he said my full name last four of my social and my email and my spouse name and he said that i was being arrested becuase cash net usa had deposit some money into my bank account last year and im refusing to pay them back what the f*** i had recently open the bank account barely this year. So anyway he was asking me for a total of $5000.00 to pay cash net usa back and the rest would cover court fees, attorney fees and all that s**t.  Could you uys believe that s***.

Ok today I received a call at my job from a Indian guy who name is John Potter and he told me that I was going to be arrested today if I didn't pay my loan. I ask him what loan I don't owe any one anything.
He said it was a fast cash loan, I said you really must have the wrong person, ok then he proceeded to state that I will be picked up today and I will see the judge monday, I told him ok let them come get me.
I ask the name of his company and he hesitated which really made me mad then I ask what was his number he didn't want to give it to me. Now you really in for it my question is where is the company he work for located, he said very quickly Washington and Maryland, So I told him if I was wanted I will go to the police station when I get off. he hung up. Do me and yourself a favor there are cyber rapist online don't put your info online because they will attack. I am on my way to the police department to make an offical report.

Confirmed social engineering attempt to obtain client data from 425-998-1244.

Client reports a company saying that she had taken a payday loan out and that she needed to pay it back or she was going to jail.  

The female was really a male by the name Alex.

Got a call today from a 112344 number on my cell and answered it dont normanly answer calls i dont know. And a man with an indian voice states that i have a payday loan that i didnt pay for 2010 and that if i didnt pay the 550.00 that i would be arrested at my house on monday! This #425-998-1244 is a scan dont let these people take you for a ride! I asked the man his name and he told me JOHN POTTER when i asked him for an adress he didnt have an answer for me he had to think about it and then tell me i dont know? So i sadi to him you dont even know the adress of the place you work at? This guy had no clue what to say when i started asking  him questions back what a tool he was. I advise to all other people out there to report this like i did and write about it so we can have these people arrested and put in Jail not us!

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

Got same call yesterday -- reported call and all info pertaining directly to FBI and SC Governors office as a follow up -- Name used is John Potter demanding cash sums of $5485.87 and more -- claims lawsuit by cashloans.com is the creditor and threatened physical harm besides. -- don not negotiate or deal with this guy or anyone connected to him.

hi Billy.same thing happened here last week with me,the bad thing in my case is that i realy made a small loan through a cash loan company (wich kind of scared me at first)as i was tight for money these days, to meet ends for personal reasons,anyway,i did a cash advance,wich i am taking care of paying back,in fact i have all my bank statements and contract on my loan wich i am following their rules,and more so,i even called my cash loan company,who comfirmed me that i was in good paying standing,and that there were no law suit against me what so ever,they never called any attorneys,and even if i had issues with them they would contact me and go through a collection agency and not have a law firm calling me directly,if they had paying problems with me,not some fake indian law firm personel call me or others and threatning me to come to my work or my house to arrest me if i did'nt pay $1000 that day or if i was going to be arrested and going to court it would cost me more than $5000 in fees.by the way,all this for a $400 loan?.now that i have done lots of research on this matter,i can't believe some "jack***' " like these people are doing this.i, of course followed my cash loan company's tip,to go online @www.ftc.gov.com,and report it to the F B I,as a complaint.by the way i also had a second phone call from the same people but from an international #,011-120-80023.what a bunch of amateurs.

Yeah someone called me @ my house and than my work number saying they have a lawsuit against me and that they were going to send someone to arrest me and speak to the judge.  How this person has been getting by scamming people for money needs to be stopped.  I have reported this number and the person to the Attorney Generals Office in New York and they are looking into this scam.

MY EMPLOYEE RCVD A THREATENING CALL FROM
"CYBER CRIME UNIT"

FROM A "CRIS WILLIAMS", BUT PERSON HAD A HEAVY INDIAN ACCENT, CLAIMING SHERIFF WOULD BE @ DOOR TO ARREST IF DIDNT PAY $5,000 TODAY FOR NSF CHECK ON A SUPPOSED LOAN,,,,

EMPLOYEE HAS NO LOANS, NOTHING,,, WAS SCARED TO DEATH TODAY BY THIS ERRONEOUS PHONE CALL TO HIS WORK PHONE, SO HE REPORTED IT TO ME,HIS SUPERVISOR

I just today got a weird message stating that they will come to my job or house to get me for what? I am figuring that this is a scam because if this was the case I would have gotten a letter or something.

http://800notes.com/forum/ta-1b47a30428c1e14/ ... ew-numbers-here

Yeah some Indian called me today left message stated that I have 3 charges against me and that they are sending sheriff to get me and my employer and I would have to pay $5000.00 dollars to have my case heard by a Judge and that my attorney and I need to call today are else...WTH......I don't know what kind of scam this is but I dont owe no money or have any law suits against me?

i got a call at work and first it was a officer charlie mason and like 20 minutes later they called me at work same number this time was some indian guy named "alex" and he said that he was calling me to let me know that i was being arrested for 3 counts 2 i dont even remember but the 3rd one was theft he said my full name last four of my social and my email and my spouse name and he said that i was being arrested becuase cash net usa had deposit some money into my bank account last year and im refusing to pay them back what the f*** i had recently open the bank account barely this year. So anyway he was asking me for a total of $5000.00 to pay cash net usa back and the rest would cover court fees, attorney fees and all that s***.  Could you uys believe that s***.

This is actually pretty funny. These Indian Fuktards have called me for six months. The person states the same info as above; Cyber crime, three charges and they're coming to arrest me, my Supervisor or Manager etc. The FDCPA clearly states what can & can't be said to a client or person being pursued. They break every rule created!!! A bunch of fruity Indians in some boiler room trying to intimidate US citizens into paying for old debts or non-existent in my case. I'm sure they get the leads for pennies & just harass people until they finally give in. Just tell them to get bent!

I had a person report this number to me saying someone was trying to obtain additional information from her.  Just for your information, Law Enforcement will not ask for any banking information from you. Also, a threat was made that if she didn't pay the local law enforcement office would come down and get her.  Well again, If Law Enforcement want to get you, we will not tell you were coming. If in doubt call you local law enforcement agency for help. Be Safe.

ok......I just called the number back and Alex answered the phone.  I asked him what the address was for his company and he gave me the state of Washington.  I asked for a street address and he said, "1050" and then stopped.  He then started to ask who I was.  I told him that I was receiving threatening phone calls and I need to know his company information.  I told him that I looked up the company on the internet and it's reported as being a scam.  He said, "ma'am, if this was a scam, would I be giving you my address?"  I said, "If it's NOT as scam, you should have no problem giving me the company's address.  Now what is the address?"  He said, "I can't remember."  I said, "you can't remember the address of the company that you work for?"  He said, "No."  I said, "How did you get my work number?"  He said, "I don't know."  I hung up.  These people have been calling me for over a month and this is ridiculous.  Something must be done.

Someone called (heavy Indian accent) claiming to be with the Law office of the Cyber Crime Unit, telling me that I have a lawsuit filed against me (3 charges) and that I would be arrested tomorrow at my job or at home along with my supervisor and my sister.  They claim that they gave me a payday loan in December of 2009, which is not true and I have my statements to prove it.  I've been reading some things on line saying that this is a scam.  They have called me before but with different phone numbers and different company names.