Yes it is a scam. I got a call from these clown at 740am in the morning. Whe he said the sheriff's department was coming to my job at 11am Monday to bring my paperwork I sai oh really because I work as a sheriff's deputy. They slammed the phone down. They just want you to give permission to take your money. If you have used any pay day service they probably took your info and are now calling you.

Has a thick indian accent and says he is john anderson.  is time sensitive and that i need to call or have my attorney call or else it will be real bad for me.  Is this a scam or a debt collector?

I have received numerous phone calls like this on my cell and at my place of employment,its very disturbing. I feel feel better now that I have seen these post and knowing that this is a scam. My call are from a representative Shawn w/Law Office of George Sanders @773-455-5428 and Fiber Crime Unit @661-776-5062. Also some other numbers I cant remember w/area code of 954.

This A-hole called my number six times in the space of half an hour, a woman with a heavy Indian accent calling herself "Stephanie Altos" left voice messages telling me I had a time sensitive legal issue and needed to call them before November 25.  When I called back, the guy said they needed my attorney's information... so I gave it to them.  Then he wanted to know if this was a criminal attorney, because the charges were criminal charges being brought against me in California.  I live in New Jersey, so that made no sense.  When I pressed for more information, he hung up on me.  I called back, and there was no answer, nor an official voice mail, which any half decent attorney's office would have.  

After repeated calls and no answer, I called from my work phone, got an answer from a "Jason O'Connor" (if the guy was Irish then I'm a space alien), who proceeded to cuss me out when I wanted the name of his company.  I told him I was talking to attorney and I knew he was a scam artist.  He hung up on me. But I am filing a complaint with the police department, and everyone who has received calls from this guy should do the same.  He shouldn't be allowed to get away with this.

same thing happen to me so i told him you tried the same thing probably 2 month ago, I told Jason O'Connor to make sure to have list of people they call so they dont have to call the same people all the thime he hangs up so i call back probably 4 time and he told me if  I call back again he would get me arrested.. so I just keep calling him until he didnt pick up the call....

The butheads are contacting me now....Joseph Daniel.  Barely knows English....what a retard.

the man who called me had a thick indian accent identifying himself as jason o'connor and later, I'm assuming it was the same caller, identified himself as a michael carter.  they told me they were pressing criminal charges and the sheriff would be coming to my home and place of employment.  they offered to settle on the phone for a large amount of money.  they said they were from the 1st state attorney office in LA, California.  I called the MN state attorney's office who advised me to inform them that I have called my local state attorneys office as well as local law enforcement.  protect your identity and contact your bank and credit bureau as well!

Hello,

I just received a phone call for the second time from these same people but the person who contacted me was a woman and she said that her name is Anna Jones. The first time she called me it was from a totally different number but like the first time this time she also told me too that if we did not pay the debt that we could expect a summons at our local courthouse because the place that we actually did get a payday loan from was going to sue us for 382 and some odd change and that the amount we actually needed to pay was 589.87 cents. Well, this time I told her that I was told by the place that the payday loan had turned the account over to that they were a scam and then by the debt collector attorneys office that they were a scam and that they were just trying to get money out of us, she said so you are saying you were told that we were just trying to get money out of you and I said yes so she said well if you do not pay this then you can expect the summons at your courthouse and that the payday loan place was going to press charges for receiving funds by fraud, and some other stuff. I was again reassured by the true debt collector attorney's office that these people were indeed frauds. As a matter of fact my contact person at the debt collector's office tried talking to them over loud speaker from one phone to another and the guy after an initial hello and my contact person asking him did he understand english and why was he telling me that my husband would be going to jail the guy hung up. My contact person reassured me along with another person that is in the office that they do not put people in jail or sue them over payday loans. So if you get a call from this number ignore them! Cause they are indeed a scam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I have a severe heart condition!!!!!

I got a call at my job and as soon as i started asking questions the phone hung up but what was scary is that he had so much of my info what i did was i went and closed that account then i put a fraud alert on my credit my next step will be to make a police report because i will not be harrased and they will not take my idenity away from me these people are sick and need help

This is a total SCAM.

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

What happend to you is exactly what happened to me. 'Joseph Daniel' called back again today and wanted to transfer me to 'Sam'. I am going to put an identity claim as you did because although I did not do what they said I did the fact that they had personal information on me, (cell#, work#, social, etc). But they kept tripping up their facts and could not tell me when I supposedly took out this bogus loan. I felt much better dealing with him today knowing that other people had problems. He gave me the same number to call back 661-927-7194 by 5pm. I asked him if that was PST (since I know the number is a California area code). He paused and said it was EST. That sinked him. Maybe he really is on the east cost and somehow got a number in California.

This a-hole called me twice at work today, and left a threatening message on my cell... saying " I had better watch out," and " I had better have a good attorney." (Heavy Indian accent?) Same scam as above it looks like, a "payday loan" which I NEVER took out. When I asked him for his name, he gave me "Joseph Daniels", and then  "transfered" me to "Sam Wilson." He said he would be "coming to get me." Creepy..... he knew some info about me. How he got it, I have no idea.....?

I checked my credit reports and filed a claim with his number and info he gave me. Also filed an Identity Theft Complaint toward him with my local police dept. and an alert with the Federal Trade Commission.  

He's gonna end up effing with the wrong person one of these times.  

BTW.... The phone number is listed under the phone carrier: Brooks Fiber Communications Of Cali.
From McFarland, CA in Kern county. It's a landline......

I called him back 7 times, he hung up on me and then wouldn't answer.

This man named Jimmy called me at my job and said that I need to call him and if I don't he
feel sorry for what will happen to me. So I called back and he said his name was Jimmy. When I
started asking him questions he hung up in my face. He was telling me I am in serious trouble
and I or my attorney better call him. I am going to report this number right away. I just do not know
how he got my information.

man with heavy accent john anderson told me good luck if didnt call back called back he asked do you have an attorney and wanted my attorneys name i got nasty and asked him what he wanted he hung up and hasnt answered any time i call  back. called my cell and at work and that doesnt leave a god impression with employer   BIG SCAM i think

I am getting the same problem. This person has a heavy indian accent and said his name was Joseph Daniel. He has called my work and cell phone claiming someone gave me a payday loan for $200 and now I owe $700. The first time he called he said that the loan was from 9/09 and today he said it was from 9/10. He said he is with Legal Customer Affairs. When he called my work today he said his name was Sam but when he left me a cell phone message he said his name was Joseph. I checked my bank statements and there is no payday loan during the time he is claiming someone did something. He knew things about me, which was scary, but I didn't confirm anything although he knew some information. He said there were 3 criminal charges against me re: this mysterious loan. Luckily I know a few lawyers so if he wants to continue to play games then let the games begin. Thanks everyone for posting your experiences with this creep. I thought I was the only one. This has been going on for about a month.

Got a call from this do***e bag, with threats! I just ignore the calls now.  GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

Here is what I did.  This jack*** starting calling my cell phone today.  I have blocked his number through my cell provider.  I can block my caller ID and called (661) 924-7194.  You get Jimmy's google subscriber voicemail.  I have unlimited minutes.  I have called him ten times and just let the voicemail run until it automatically disconnects (about 3 minutes).  Try this.  The MORE people that do this, it is more likely Jimmy will back off...  He is wasting our time so let's waste his...

what state everybody in i got the attorney he says that is his filling a suit if he is in cali im in ut

yes and when you call and start asking questions he hangs up the phone i got three diffrent names in five hours from him no place of employment and a very threating remark for not paying him 1299.99 dollars he said mine was for a cash advance and that is all he would say and said i had to pay by 6 my time to keep it from legal proceedings so i called the attorney that he mentioned and they said it is a scam and jimmy james or jason all the same guy was trying to get money

Has anyone else gotten a phone call from this number at their work...  Person says his name is Jimmy Brown with a very very heavy accent.  Said it was an urgent and time sensitive matter....