I?m Mary Berry by name. I live in USA, i want to use this medium to alert  all loan seekers to be very careful because there are scammers everywhere.Few months ago I was financially strained, and due to my  desperation I was scammed by several online lenders. I had almost lost hope until a friend of mine referred me to a very reliable lender called Mr.William Jackson  who lend me an unsecured loan of $85,000 under 2hours without any stress. If you are in need of any kind of loan just contact him now via: getyourloannow@hotmail.com I?m using this medium to alert all loan seekers because of the hell I passed through in the hands of those fraudulent lenders. And I don?t wish even my enemy to pass through such hell that I passed through in the hands of those fraudulent online lenders, i will also want you to help me pass this information to others who are also in need of a loan once you have also receive your loan from Mrs. Born Hook, i pray that God should give him long life.

God bless him forever.

Mary Berry

I reported him to the actual FBI. I urge you to do the same.

On October 19 2012 Officer Allen Taylor left a voicemail on my husband's phone naming me and saying I was to call him back immediately or the consequences would be on me.  I was to call his direct line.  Repeated his name.  Spoke in heavily, Indian accented English.

Same as others have reported -- broken English, same phone number, wrong address, weird nonsensical patter.  This moronic a**hole is not exactly a criminal mastermind, but should be stopped, and also jailed for a while.

This Indian guy named Allen Taylor called me about two- three times claiming I owe a debt and I needed to pay it. He Threathened and cursed me out through the phone conversation. He is alos claiming to be an FBI agent and I know that the FBI does make home calls; they'll just come right to your home if there was a serious felon like Id theft.

I recieved a scam call from Allen Taylor today saying if I did not pay today he was sending officers to my house immediately.

i got calls from 2 different numbers on my cell and my home. what is happening...yesterday was a weird day for phone communication. my office even had issues connecting. so did the local market. weird, weird, weird...

took a report of this number calling a lady to say she was going to be arrested.  called back and male with very broken english (possibly from india) said he was an office and she would be prosecuted.  when he found out was law enforcement calling him he hung up.  THIS IS A SCAM!!!!!

I've been receiving calls like this since March of 2011. I never answer calls from area codes I don't recognize so I let this go to voicemail. Sounds like the same Indian-accented man, this time claiming to be Frank Miller of the crime investigation department (of an unnamed company). He said my name and social security number had turned up in a criminal investigation and that if he didn't receive a return call it would be taken as a "flat refusal" and my social would be blocked. Whatever that's supposed to mean.
Just another number to report to the FTC and BBB.

the same guy alan john johnson called and left muiltple vm and that if i dont call back i was getting sued and so on like all the message above. i called back and keep saying the officer was in a meeting with my case file and he will call me back shortly. and i read these pages and i called my local authoritys and reported it and had it blocked by verizon wireless and had them note exactly wht this number was being used for. they gladly blocked it on all my phones.

Scam called my atty. and the Atty. general office and police dept. Don't get caught up in this!!!!!!

I almost started freaking out as well once he repeated my ssn. All I did was apply for a payday loan which I never had to use and now I have some Indian guy calling me with broken English, cutting in and out to pretend the conversation was being recorded. I just called the number back and he answered as the offices of John Johnson. Really? That's so believable. What an a-holes! I've never wished bad things on people, but these do***ebags really deserve the worst.

I just received this same call same guy same scenario, I started lauging cause I knew I did not get $ put in my acct via EFT, and he was saying that I didnt pay the money back. He said I can expect the police to show up w/ a warrant for me and said God Bless and hung up. What a joke!

They keep calling - but no message

The caller stated that he obtained information from CASHCALL and that this company was going to press charges. The caller had very broken english and insisted that he could have officers at my door in moments to take me away.
 I told the caller to make contact only to my mail box, At that point he said he would call my employer if i did not pay him now.

received a call from Officer Patric Davis, badge #15477 stating that I have a pending law suit against me for check fraud and theft by deception.
money was deposited to my account and I owe money to  "Gas at Once"  If I settle with this investigator I can pay $525 but if I go to court they will want me to pay $2586.00.  If I pay within the next 2 hours I can pay $475.00.  I need to go to money graham and call him back and he will tell me where to send the money or I can pay by debit or credit card.
this is a foreign speaking man

this is bogus company

My mother got a voice mail from a Mr. Johnson who spoke very broken English. He said to please call back asap and that it is a very urgent matter regarding some kind of bank transaction. They also wanted her SSN#. Well she freaked out because this was on her cell number which only a handful of people have. She saved the messages and had me listen to it. There was all sorts of shuffling and people talking  in the background. It sounded extremely suspicious to me. She tried to call him back but did not leave him a message. I told her under no circumstances to attempt to call him again. I can just imagine how an elderly person would fall for this and give out their personal information and get their accounts wiped out or have their SSN # stolen.

i got 4 phone calls from him and he called back, when we called back it was the same guy.  

He kept calling, called local police company and filed a report.

I keep getting calls from this phone number 660 553 3013 from Allen JonesLaw And Investigation saying I owe money from a pay day loan I never took out. These people are from India or some where in the Mid East. They have strong accents and can't speak english at all. They sound like they are reading from a script. If you listen carefully you can hear a whole bunch of these people reading the same script in theback ground. They are trying to scare people into saying they are being sued and will be arrested if the ydon't pay. Most of the time the amounts they say you owe are always under $500.00. They are getting your information from previous pay day loans youmay have or had that were ligitimate. Do not send them any money. dO NOT EVEN TALK WITHTHEM. I HAVE FILED A POLICE REPORT WITH MY LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND AM HAVING MY PHONES TRACED. They prey on people who sound scared to them. Do not fall for this trick!

Today I listened to a voice mail I got from this number where a man calling himself Officer Justin Russo of the "law and investigation department" claimed to be calling in regards to a case filed against me. He said that I needed to call him back as soon as possible before police officers show up at my residence or place of employment in order to find out more about the case. His English was poor and as the message continued it was obvious that he was trying to scare me into calling back before thinking it through. He had an accent, but I could not tell what kind; I would have guessed Spanish.

Does anyone know how this group picks its targets? I am a college student, so it isn't like I have much money to be scammed out of, and the only loan I've ever taken out was a student loan through my school's financial aid office.

This same exact guy just called me about 20 minutes ago! i started freaking out because he told me i had a case on my name for money laundering and a pay day loan that was direct deposited into a chase bank account (which i have never even had chase bank before) and he had all my info my address my email my NEW cell phone number and the last 4 of my social! He said he was officer jones calling from the federal law department and gave me a case number and everything gave me his name and number to be able to reach him "directly" he asked me if i wanted to settle this in court or settle it now and placed me on home to "talk to his superviser" and came back asking me to pay 552.00 then i later realized he was NOT from the federal law department and told him it was illegal to say you are from the federal law department and your really in freakin india trying to scam people!!  as soon as i told him it was illegal he AGREED with me! and then said he has no time to sit and talk to me and i hung up, and googled the number and it amazes me how many people that has happened to and that it has been going on since 2008!!!!!!! wow crazy.... and there is nothing we can do??

I just received this call and had the same experience as you,I asked to speak to another rep because I could not understand him and he put me on hold several times only to get a voice which I could understand, but it was only an American Man stating his name and then it went back to the same man as the conversation continued.I asked where they were located and he told me Kansas!Needless to say I did not give him any info other then to tell him do you really think I am that stupid to give you my credit card info over the phone not knowing what or whom I am paying this so called loan that you say I took out?I will receive a confirmation number via E-mail once I pay it..........I have a few choice words for him!!!!He hung up on me.

i received the same call today for the allen johnson and from the same phone number he told me that i owed cash at once since nov. 2009 and i knew this was not right, because i has done checked on this, these people need to be in jail for what they are doing to people.

Kudos to "Sam" for giving the most intelligent and informative posts on this scam. READ, Bookmark and use as needed:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-631-456-4041/2

I have been receiving phone calls from this group since late April / early May of 2010.  There is a good chance that they also attempted to contact me roughly two years ago before I entered into Chapter 7 Bankruptcy protection, as I faintly remember hearing the same script more or less.

As others have stated, the callers are difficult to understand.  Generally speaking their command of the English language is quite poor and their accents are hard to follow. At times they will get certain words or phrases mixed up.  It would be funny if it wasn't for the fact that they had:

a) Your SSN
b) Your home address
c) Your work address
d) Your banking info
e) Names, numbers and potentially the addresses of "references"
f) A complete and total lack of ethics and a basic understanding of the FDCPA.  

I have personally filed reports with the following agencies, often with limited (if any) success:

Local Police
my state's Attorney General's office
FTC
FBI
Secret Service

Generally the local police won't be able to help much.  The callers are using a combination of prepaid cell phones and VoIP, making them difficult to trace.  Also at their disposal are various spoofing tactics being implemented to catch people off guard - meaning the number that appears on your Caller ID isn't the number that is calling you for starters.  Without gaining a subpoena for the billing information for the numbers in question, the local police won't be able to get very far.  

My state's Attorney General's office couldn't offer much assistance either.  I received a form letter in the mail that my complaint was received and I would be contacted if they needed additional info.  It was more or less the same information I obtained from the FTC.  They each advised me not to give the individuals over the phone any account information or to authorize payment.  That's just common sense, though.

I never got anything from the FBI, either.  There is a good chance that since I haven't suffered a monetary loss that my concerns are low on the totem pole.  I hate to say this, but that is truly the case. Unless you were in the hole for a $1,000 (or more) you aren't going to get much more than "sorry to hear about your situation, change your phone number and move on".  I seemed to get some activity from the Secret Service.  I spoke with agent Doug Zloto. (Google him, referencing threads like these plus his name and you'll find his number also)  He seemed to care a bit more than the average person, but after giving him access to my Google Voice account, there has been no further activity from him that I'm aware of.

In the meantime I changed the wireless number the fraudsters had access to, they have no direct way to get a hold of me.  (Calls at work have ceased for some reason)  That in turn resulted in my "references" getting phone calls from the crooks.  Here is a word of caution for women that have been getting these calls - don't say anything and just hang up.  The callers are quite abusive towards women callers.  Why?  Possibly the culture.  If they are Indian / Pakistani, women are second class citizens there.  You will be treated like garbage.  This happened to a family member when she was trying her best to be extremely nice over the phone.  

The callers currently attempt to reach me through the female family member and an unused Google Voice number that they managed to find of mine.  I keep the Google Voice number open because, well, I can't delete it yet.  So, about every day, 4-5 times a day for the last week, I get voice messages from them.  It's usually just two full messages though - the other calls are broken up with static or they are attempts to read the script until the callers then screw up.  Really, they are that adamant on getting the script 100% that they will hang up mid-sentence and call back 30 seconds later.  

At this point it's a stalemate with these people.  

1) While they have the lion's share of information on us, they can't really do anything with this information.  

Why?  Think about it.

If they were to ever take funds out of your account without authorization, it's fraud and worse (for them) it is traceable.  That's why they won't do anything with your information, contrary to threats they make.  The money from your account has to go somewhere, and either your bank or a law enforcement agency can determine where the money was routed.  As a bank customer you are protected - you'd get the stolen money back in your account after 7-10 business days and the bank would be temporarily out the funds deducted from your account while they conducted their investigation.  The bank, along with law enforcement, would track down the fraudsters and apprehend them.  The fraudsters do not want to incur the wrath of a bank, just extort money out of you.  Remember that.    

Your authorization would absolve the bank from any and all liability, leaving you holding the bag.  Never give them authorization for anything - for all you know the call is recorded.  

2) We have no information on them.

Seriously, this has been going on at least since 2008, possibly longer than that based on some accounts. (6 years??? Holy crap!)  You would think someone would have slipped up by now.  Sadly, they haven't.  We can continue to grow our own intel on them and compile lists of aliases and phone numbers used, along with paraphrases of scripts used in order to educate other victims.  I'm actually putting together a site now in the meantime where I'll host audio files and lists of previous numbers used.  800notes.com is great, but no two calls are exactly the same.  It would be nice to have a site dedicated to the scam and how it works.

So that's where I am with these calls.  I have suffered no monetary loss, though I have been harassed both at home and at work.  They threaten me with arrest and other "fun" things in order to get me convinced I have to pay them.  My friends and family have been targeted and local and federal law enforcement agencies haven't been able to put a stop to things.  So, it is what it is.  I am out a wireless phone number I had for roughly six years, which is terrible since I was using that line when looking for a new job.  

Whenever I'm bored I spoof my number using Google Voice and return the calls.  I've called them the poster children for birth control, etc.  Basically a lot of nasty things that I'm sure the moderators here wouldn't appreciate me repeating - bottom line nothing nice.  I always like to close saying their parents must be real proud knowing their sons weren't man enough to get real jobs.  That usually gets a decent response.  

Way I see it - they can't do anything to me. (Despite a threat yesterday that my life would be f'ed up)  They can threaten all they want but my credit is frozen and my bank information has changed.  I've changed the only number they could really access me directly on and I've instructed my employer and family to not answer the calls.  I just call and harass them now when I find a few extra seconds.  What's the worst they can do to me?  Charge me with harassment?  

Nope, then they would have to identify themselves.

Oh, and don't bother contacting Cashnet USA about the calls.  Their "fraud" department could honestly care less.  Their "investigation" is merely a means of buerocratic CYA.  I would even be surprised at this point if actual law enforcement is involved in any shape, way or form at this time.  

There is a good chance that the information these crooks have on us was obtained from Cashnet USA - either from a database leak or from a collector that was once authorized by Cashnet to call on delinquent customers.  The other chance is they have access to Teletrack, and pulled all of our information off of there.

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-646-274-1143/3

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.

PS--The FBI sent out a Press Release on this scam just last week:

Extortion Scam Related to Delinquent Payday Loans

Washington, D.C.
December 07, 2010  FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

? filed under: Press Release

The Internet Crime Complaint Center has received many complaints from victims of payday loan telephone collection scams. Callers claim the victim is delinquent in a payday loan and must repay the loan to avoid legal consequences. The callers purport to be representatives of the FBI, Federal Legislative Department, various law firms, or other legitimate-sounding agencies. They claim to be collecting debts for companies such as United Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Net, and other Internet check-cashing services.

According to complaints received from the public, the callers have accurate data about victims, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, employer information, bank account numbers, and the names and telephone numbers of relatives and friends. How the fraudsters obtained the personal information varies, but in some cases victims have reported they completed online applications for other loans or credit cards before the calls started.

The fraudsters relentlessly call the victim?s home, cell phone, and place of employment. They refuse to provide any details about the alleged payday loans and become abusive when questioned. The callers have threatened victims with legal actions, arrests, and, in some cases, physical violence if they do not pay. In many cases, the callers harass victims? relatives, friends, and employers.

Some fraudsters have instructed victims to fax a statement agreeing to pay a certain amount, on a specific date, via a pre-paid Visa card. The statement further declares the victim will never dispute the debt.

If you receive these calls, do not follow the caller?s instructions. Rather, you should:

Notify your banking institutions.
Contact the three major credit bureaus and request an alert be put on your file.
Contact your local law enforcement agencies if you feel you are in immediate danger.
File a complaint at www.IC3.gov.
Tips to avoid becoming a victim of this scam:

Never give your Social Security number?or personal information of any kind?over the telephone or online unless you initiate the contact.
Be suspicious of any e-mail with urgent requests for personal financial information. The e-mail may include upsetting or exciting but false statements to get you to react immediately.
Avoid filling out forms in e-mail messages that request personal information.
Ensure that your browser is up-to-date and security patches have been applied.
Check your bank, credit, and debit card statements regularly to make sure that there are no unauthorized transactions. If anything looks suspicious, contact your bank and all card issuers.
When you contact companies, use numbers provided on the back of cards or statements

http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/paydayloanscam_120710

a indian man called and said i owed money! i dont and dont know who he is! he told me to stop calling him?  he must of saw I dontknow him and dont owe anything! we shall se if he calls again! I DOUBT HE WILL

I got the phone call like all of you today and they had the broken Indian English. I asked for their mailing address and they said that they could not give it to me. They told me after they started to talk to me that I was being recorded. I asked for his name and he got snippy with me and and asked if I did not know who I was talking to for the last 5 minutes. I told me to not get snippy with me and to give me his name he then told me it was Andrew McDonald. He said his supervisors name was Brian McCormick. The name of the company that they "represent" is USA Fast Cash. I am trying to report them to the better business bureau. Wish me luck.

Same thing happend to me.  Same name, Alan Johnson.  Same numbers, 660 553 3013.

I got a phone call today from a man with very broken english telling me that I have 3 charges against me from a company called Cash at Once. They said I supposingly got a $300 payday loan. He started talking about money laundering etc. This is very bogus and a money making scheme. Please be careful people will tell you all sorts of things to scare you.

Brian,
I believe I got a call from the same guy!