Non English Speakers harrassing phone calls

non english speakers..you say to them can you speak more clear they you a biatch for not understanding....that's it number is now blocked..if they call again from another number that will
blocked also..enough is enough with the foul language

i keep getting this number on my phone and telling me its about my personal information and i need to call back or else. the information they have is very personal!

non english speakers..you say to them can you speak more clear they you a b****h for not understanding....that's it number is now blocked..if they call again from another number that will
blocked also..enough is enough with the foul language

My husband and i have been recieving the same exact call from the same # and calls himself Mike and says he is takeing my husband to court and is going to sue him, he cursed at me and calls my sister and mother in law daily. They say they are from Los Angales but the id says Lake Hughes CA, I spoke to a payday loan near my town and they said they have been trying to catch these people for a while now and they said they are out of India...hopefully they will catch these crooks, it is sad to think of all the people that may have fell for these people.

I have had the same problem - this is the second time people like this have tried to get money from me the first time it was a florida number and they were soooo mean - called themselves Officer Tom Brown and Officer Mark Henry and now this one.

This one is from California - this is the 4th day of the calls - Day one 6 phone calls - Day two 16 calls back to back and 4 at night - Day three 2 calls and today its 8 am and I just received one!!  they have only left 2 messages - I have my job warned of these callers so they just hang up on them.  

I called the police - my attorney general and the FTC

I can only hope they will get caught for trying to go after good people like us.  Earn your own money leave us alone.

When I talked to a lawyer he said to not answer - no one can get you fired or put u in jail for a payday debt.

I received 5 calls back to back on my cell and my work telephone and they left a message on my cell phone, threatening to take legal action on me, and they had a very thick indian accent. Sound very scary!!! He said he was calling from Los Angeles CA.

I just received a call from these people and was freaked out to say that least. He said that they had a complaint against me and they had my last four of my ssn, my banking information and stated that I took a loan out in June. I have not done so at all. They asked me how I planned to settle and I said that I didn't because I didn't take out the loan and then he said it would go further and go to court and hung up on me. The man had a very thick indian accent and was hard to understand.

i received a call from this number as well it was a female telling me that my attorney need to contact her if not good luck to me...said to call her as soon as i  get this message to 661-375-7016. This is a scam she said her name was Joe Adams??? The caller ID was 0000 then called again unknown.  She didn't leave a company name what this was about just to call her back.

I also recieved a call from these people about a cash advance I was suppose to have recieved from an online cash advance. They threated that my name would be reported to the county or have my attorney call them immediately. At first it made me nervous but then I mentioned it to my sister and my cousins and they recieved the same calls. What really made me nervous is the fact they had all of my personal information. I did take proper steps needed to report this scam!

I just had this call! I googled the number because I had no idea what this was about! I was pretty freaked out. I do not take our any loans and it is so close to the holidays I didn't want this affecting me! I am so releaved to see this website!

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

this fool name Dennis Johnson keep calling me at my job and harrasing me.telling my manager that i was doing some illegal activities.that i was doing some cash advance and i dont know what the hellhis talking about.it is very scary coz they keep calling atmy job everyday.

Just got a call from this clown. So obviously a scam attempt it'd be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. Report him to ftc, move on

Stacy...I received two more calls...no messages..today.
He's even calling the main switchboard at my work place....a television newsroom...He may have just made a big mistake!

This so called American Law Division company has called me 3 days in a row.  Yes they are with heavy Indian accent and you can barely understand them. They are completely a fraudulent company. They will not provide proof that I took out a payday loan. They just say I took out a loan with CashAdvance Payday loans which is the mother comapny of a 1000 other payday loans online.  And all the ones he named I had never taken a loan out with.  They are very rude and a waste of time.  They just threaten you with legal action to scare you.  Just hang up cause they are just looking for chumps to get into your bank account.

To Todd and others,
PLEASE REPORT THIS NUMBER TO THE FTC IMMEDIATELY. This is a scam...the more people we get to report it the better.
By refusing to confirm they have your vital information and what it is--illegal
By refusing to prove you owe this debt--illegal
Threatening you, your livelihood, being rude, refusing to let you speak to supervisor--illegal

Write down every time they call you and do NOT give them any of your information. If you do answer the phone, just tell them that you are recording the message (whether you are or not) and that this number has been turned in to the Federal Trade Commission. I doubt it will last much past telling them that you are recording the conversation.

I received the same call yesterday on my cell phone. the guy left a very rude message on my voicemail and my boss phone. leaving personal information on the voicemail. he could even speak english. i really couldn't understand anything he was saying. so i decided to call the number back and some guy name mike answered with a heavy indian accent. like you said he knew who i was when i call. he said something about my social security number had the name of my bank. he said that CashadvanceUsa deposited a loan into my account in march. i said no i did not get a loan in march. i told him somethings not right this sounds like a scam and he got upset and started getting rude and hung up on me.  so i called back asked for a supervisor well it was the same guy who hung up on me. he said he was the supervisor. i told hm that i called my bank and that there has not been a 300.00 deposit in my account. he started yelling again so i yelled back and he hung up on me again. so i called right back and let him know i do not appreciate how he is talking to me. he said that he did not appreciate me using cursing. i told him i have proof that i don't know that company anything then he said that i will have to settle it out of court. and then he said to me i don't have to call this number again and i let him know don't call my number again with BS.  This is a scam.  if it was not he would not have gotten mad.

Just received a call from them on my cell phone.  Didn't recognize the number so I let it go to voicemail.  It was a gentleman with a very heavy accent.  I couldn't understand a word he was saying.  So I called them back.  I called him back from my work number and didn't even give them my name and they knew I was calling.  They told me I had taken out a payday loan from Cash Advance Payday in the amount of $300 and I hadn't paid it back and that I was going to be "in trouble" if I didn't pay it back.  Told me that it was deposited into my account in March of 2010.  When I asked him for a specific date he couldn't give me one.  I told him it was a scam because I had just looked it up on the internet and he got irate and hung up on me after he told me a cop would show up on my door with papers and that I could just make my payments at the court house.  The funny thing is the account they were claiming had a deposit in March wasn't even opened until June of 2010.  I will see if they continue to call but more than likely because he knows that I know it is a scam it should stop.

Todd,  I have rec'd the same phone calls today.  Said he was going to file it in the court today if I didn't call him back.  I have no clue what he is even talking about.  
Did your phone calls stop?

Ina,
Sounds like the same one I received on my cell phone and work phone this morning.  It was very threatening and could hardly understand the caller...very thick accent.  Believe this is a scam.
Said something like "we've received many complaints against your name."  I wanted to ask "who's we?" and "what complaints"?  Sounds really fishy..

Todd

I've received three calls from this number today....Can't understand the man, he has a very thick accent. The phone call was very threatening, and said something about my "social....number." I guess he meant social security number??  I've seen various complaints from people in similar situations and they ended up being scams.

Yes I got this message today myself. It ended with a very threatening "or else you will be sorry and I can only wish you good luck." Also VERY THICK Indian accent so bad hard to understand. Claims that my name, phone number and social security number have been flagged for fraud. That I took out a cash advance and I must pay it back and how did I intend to settle this debt.  He would not verify the name and number or ss #. When I requested hard copy proof that I owed this debt, he said he had sent me numerous emails, and would send me another email. I demanded a hard copy letting in my us mail box, not an email, something black and white on paper, he refused saying only that he would send another email.
This smells fishy to me.

i keep getting this number on my phone and telling me its about my personal information and I need to contact them back or else!! it is very scary