There are legal matters that you can pursue, infact so much to where they could end up paying you for the harrassment.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0149-debt-collection

Yea a foriegn guy by the name of David Ross( doubt by any means that was his given name a birth)  Somewhere down the road he is an indian( with the dot not the feather)

long on to the do not call list and report the number. Google Do not call list the government can do something if enough of us report him

I work at a school and it is to the point where I guy who is foreign says he is Roy Cooper and calls continuiously back to back and is rude says from BFF investigations will not give address or phone number. Says will keep calling if we don't put certain person on the phone.

Sometime around 2011 I started to receive phone calls from various numbers on my cell phone. Each one was a foreign person..usually male...that was hard to understand. They would read off of their "script" and tell me that I had a previous cash advance with a certain company and they had been hired to collect the debt. The amounts that I would owe would be different each time. And almost each time they called, it would be a collection from a different cash advance place. I managed one time to get a little information. Of course when googled, it always came back a scam. Then they got to be more of a pain in the a**. They started calling me at work. Luckily for me, they called my direct extension everytime so I didnt answer the calls. I told my employer and after telling several of these places that "She doesnt work here", (even though I answered with my name) they stopped the calls for a while. I would say a couple of months each time.
Then the calls started all over. Well I thought I was in the free and clear this time because I had not heard from any of these people for a good 6 months or longer. Today though it all ended and now my blood pressure is through the roof!
I received 4 phone calls in a row on my cell phone. The number each time was 508-409-2080. I called the number back after the 4th time and Mr. Mike Stone answered even though he appeared to be anything but American. He first asked me my name and I refused to give it. Well that set him off. He was very rude to me and yelled at me the whole time. He talked down to me I am guessing because I am female. Whatever country he is from obviously views women as nothing but bare foot baby makers. Anyways, I finally said "Listen to me. You are a scam artist. I dont owe you anything. Stop calling me."
Well at this time he starts talking  over me and tells me straight out.."Is that so? Well guess what I am going to do? I am going to start right now calling your work and harrassing you. You are gonna wish you didnt talk to me the way you have. I wont put up with it."
I said "Really??" and I laughed at him. Then he said "Oh you are so real right now." (Whatever that means) So I followed up with "Yea I am more real than you the guy at the 711 calling and harrassing people and making up lies."
It wasnt 2 seconds my phone at work started ringing and it was the same number he called me from earlier. He called 6 times in a row. The first time my office manager who has known about this mess from day one told him I was no longer employed here but he didnt stop. He kept calling. She just hung up each time.
I really wish I knew how they have all of my information and how I can make them stop.

my daughters and i have been victims of this so called bff investigations. they call 60 to 150 per fone line (5 lines) have called several agencies and they take your complaint but then what we will be hiring an attormey to assist us in this matter

Yes they called me restricted today multiple times. He left a(, 617) number.forgot his name,but he said Bff invinvestigations so I googled it & found this site.

They are calling asking for an employee----identifies himself as a Mr. Butler.  Gave a bogus phone number when asked for his supervisor's number and won't connect to supervisor.  Calls multiple times a day.  Nasty, swears at the secretary.

BFF Investigations also calls from (508)683-0015. They tried to reach a former employee but were told over a period many months that the person no longer works here and nobody here knows any more information about him. The name given to us to call back was Jimmy Chambers. I called to ask for a supervisor but someone hung up on me. I called back and someone said to call on Monday and hung up(it was Monday). I called to ask the person's name and they hung up. I called back and my number was blocked by them. Prior to this their employee or employees would call to mess with my coworkers who never had a reason to speak to them. They would call and would request info about the former employee, would be told the same fact that nobody knew any information and then would call back multiple times. I, sincerely, hope they answer to criminal charges in Boston and everywhere else they operate because thay deserve very bit of punishment they receive. I have no problem with debt collectors doing their jobs but these people that called here are only entertaining themselves in the office, not trying to collect money from debtors.

So have u found out what it is cause the same thing with me they said something about my social security number

Called me several times today.  Did not answer because I read these articles last night.  annoying that they keep calling though.

One of our employee's is being harassed by this company.  They are calling on several different lines at once and tying up our phone lines.  We are a school and parents need to be able to get through.  We are calling our local phone service company, have filed a complaint with the police department, and are doing our own investigation.

I totally understand just imagine them calling 50 times and calling your employer, very disrepectful and nasty. They need to be stop asap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The same number called me and threatened to press charges on me. I dont not have a background and they told me that they would work with me as long as i paid $600 and something that i owe. They wanted my debit card information an everything over the phone.

It is crazy they have been calling my job and my cell phonefor many days now i dont know what elso to do this needs to stop.

i was advise to report them to w.w.w. ic3 gov and the state police

Received a phone call from this number. The caller left no voice message.

I've been getting calls from 704-247-5052 same company as the 704-247-5053 for days at my job. We have called the State Police and they told me to pay my bill. What bill do I owe? I called the State Attorney General's office to file a compliant. There office told me to call Homeland Security - ICE department.  They instructed me this company is from North Caroline and they only help if it is from overseas however, they said it's a scam!!! Do not give them any information. We called the State Police back because they are now swearing at our switchboard operator (I work at a Nursing Home). The State Police said to give them their number as a number to reach me!!! This is horrible!!! Why can't anyone stop this from happening?????

help they are calling constantly

This is an offshore payday loan debt collection extortion scam that has been going on for at least five years. The FBI is aware of it but is unable to go after those involved due to lack of money and manpower. I looked back and found some old information which may prove to be helpful:

They obtained your information through Teletrack:

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_120710Reply !

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-951-489-0227

I got a call from 704-247-5053.  The lady had threatened to take me to court, after calling me about 33 times.  I finally got ahold of the BBB, FTC and the County Attorney.  After giving them the number the phone calls had stopped.  They had the last four of my SSN and also had my mailing address along with my physical address.  Wasn't sure how to handle it, they called my work and I had my manager come and listen in on this discussion, the more questions the lady asked, the more she got impatient.  Finally she told me to SHUT THE EFF UP and called me a b*****d.  After calming down she said this line is being recorded on a federal line and that I was going to be held accountable for money laundering and embezzlement for getting a 300.00 dollar loan from some Cash Advance entity.  I never got any loan from any one, nor have I gotten anything in writing from any of the Courts (county, state, federal.)  Its a scam.  I asked what company she said she worked for and she said PFF (Protection of Financial Fruad) out of Gastifyl, NC.  Looked it up, there is no such company there, and the area code is for Muklenber County in Chartolette, NC.

these people are doing the same to me. the lady told me that I was going to be tooken to court. she had my address and everything. I got my pi and my lawyer on the phone with her and she told them the same thing. she was ttying to say I had a loan. I never got a loan. these people are a scam

same here jus a few minutes ago...they also calld from a 951 number I have reported this to the police, the better business bureau, the federal trade commission and the surgeon general when I told them that the 951 number stopped callin but now the 704 number is callin. I calld the back to see what they would say as a company name the person on the phone said bff investigations but also would not tell me what it stood for, they also told me to shut up and verify my info. i told her she must be a crazy as she sounds and besides you have been callin me back to back so you should be able tp tell me who i am. she hung up and smeone else call me back

They have called me repeatedly (from this number and other numbers), and my employer, even after my coworker (our current HR person) told them to stop calling. They said their name was Robert A___, but wouldn't spell their last name. They say they are from BFF Investigations, but didn't know or wouldn't say what "BFF" stands for. I tried googling that name and and North Carolina, and came up with nothing. They leave threatening messages and know the last 4 digits of my SSN, but don't have anything concrete to present. Not sure how to handle it.

This number has been calling my cell phone several times daily for the past couple of days and leaving voicemails...the man is very hard to understand but I can make out that he is threatening me with legal action of some sort...I had this happen last year and reported it to our local police...at that time, they were threatening to come to my place of employment and arrest me if I didn't pay something!!...

Yes i also have got a call and thy left message that there was a investigation on my social security number and and i need to call them back i and read back the last four digits of my social security number kind of scary thy had that will not be calling them back .

This # been calling me about an investigation, for a cash advance loan that i took. T he lady i spoke with ask me to make a payment or i'm going to court, when i told her alright send me the court paper and tell me why am i going to court . she threated that she will call my job to get me fired.

I also recieved a call from this number claiming he is doing an investigating my social. and he has called my employers.

I just had a call from this number asking about one of our employees.  I could barely understand the lady on the other end.  She said she needed to speak with one of our employees & I told her she could not because he works in the field.  She said he had committed crimanl activity so I told her to call the police - not me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this number rings my cell phone 5-6 times back to back and have been doing this for the past 3 days.  it is very annoying to me and I answered once and it is a foreign guy's voice.  very disturbing to me.