I received a call from 704-266-4213 last Friday (8/3/12) and was told they were calling because there has been three complaints filed against my name. I could barely understand the woman because of her heavy Indian accent. Nonetheless, I was connected to a male who would not give me any information about the company he was associated with. He advised he had the last 4 digits of my social security # and said he'd call my boss at work (those were his exact words). He then said he'd call my office phone number one hundred times an hour from 8-6:30 pm. I told him that I knew this was a scam and to stop calling my cell phone. He then became beligerant and told me that he would (and I quote)"find me and kill me". I told him that was a serious threat, scam or not, and advised that I would notify the police and FBI. I did call the police (just to see if there was anything that I should do) and they advised me to file a police report. They agreed that it was also a scam and to not give any personal information to these individuals. They also explained that they are actually calling from a country outside the US (probably India) and they had various numbers tagged to different states. I called the phone number back and spoke to the same man then explained to him that I would take legal action for harrassment if he persisted. I've not received anymore calls. I did however report them to the FTC.

My fiancé has the same problem his work made h go to the police over it still continued to harrass him so I took matters into my own hands and started harrassing them back , I was threanted ,cussed out and was asked sexual questions but I didn't let that stop me ! I started messing with them back and told him I would continue to harrass until he stopped calling mr.? This went on for several hours ! After about the 63rd call from me asking him stupid questions and letting him know I can play this game better than him , he said he wouldn't call back ? So I guess we will see ? So people harrass back ! They will threaten u , cuss u , even talk vulgar to u , don't back down keep that phone ringing ! Tell them they have harrased the wrong person !

This number consistently keeps calling my cell phone and will not say what company they are with.

i have been getting these calls too. Dont worry...theyre the spammers/inverstigators scam artists that are on the rise right now. But smart Me....ive downloaded the Youmail app and listed this phone to get a F.I.T. Security warning voicemail and set it to also "ditch" it so they will not be able to leave a vm. They called back to back after that and then stopped from there.
If they left a voicemail GOOD! Keep it as proof and file and report them to FTC

I get these calls all the time! They call from a CA number and also this 704 266 4213. I dont answer or I tell them to kick rocks. Becareful!! Don't give them any info and place your number on the National do not call list!!

I was at work and started getting phone calls from this number 704-266-4213, I asked if I could please call them back after I got off work to finish the conversation.  The guy got really nasty with me and started say horrible things then I hung up. He then proceeded to call over and over and over again. My boss finally got tired of it and I lost my job.  What kind of people do this to others I just don't understand it.

This person heavy accent has beenb harrassing one of my employees, threatened me saying that I am trying to protect employee and must be involved with the fraud.  I ask what company and he said cash advance with the same number.  Tried to get my name and fax number would not give it out.  Called 4 times told him I am reporting this number because it is a scam and hung up.

I have been getting phone calls from this number when I inquirer about what this is about the person on the other end gets very rude and disrespectful. When ask not to call this number again. They call back anyway not once or twice but serval times and sometimes its a woman and others it has been a man. Theynever identify themselves just only to say they are an investigation company. You what are they investigating they get rude. I am tired of these phone calls.

"Jennifer Johnson"  and "Misty Walker" were the names used by the same person.  She also read off all my personal information and calls me at work.  I let my supervisor and HR know what was going on.  I live in Oklahoma and they say i owe a Payday cash advance company in California money...i don't think so..i knew right away it was a scam because i have heard stories and what seems to make them angry is when u talk back to them and get smart.  How can someone think it's okay to treat people like this?

Just got a voicemail from 704-266-4213 demanding a call back in 30 minutes or "the company is not responsible for any wrongdoings that can happen to you, I repeat we will not be responsible for anything bad that happens if you don't call back" The voicemail also gave my address, internet address and last 4 of ss#. This heavily accented (Indian) woman named "Jennifer Johnson" told me if I "valued my job" I would call back immediately otherwise I "will enjoy a loooooooooong vacation in jail". She said that she feels "sorry for what will happen" to me if I don't call back. I have been getting these calls for about a month sometimes as many as 23 in 30 minutes. I love that this stupid person left a voicemail with these direct threats, how DUMB can they be?

I have just received 37 calls from this number in less than an hour we have already called the police about this man and now that i told him he got very angry and i yelled and cursed first then he started to call me a bi*** and tell me i was f@#$king the other party involved and i just need to do something i am so tired of all this stuff i on my phone get a phone number from 0000 or unavalaible but on the other persons phone the number is 704-2666-4213 it is getting so old and i just need help anyone have any ideas or numbers of someone i can call

THEY HAVE BEEN CALLING ME FOR AT LEAST A MONTH THREATNING ME ABOUT MY SS NUMBER AND HOW I NEED TO GET A LAYWER AND SOMEONE WILL BE GOING TO BE COMING TO MY HOUSE. THIS NUMBER AND A 704-266-4213 KEEP CALLING AND YES THEY SOUND LIKE THEY ARE FROM INDIA OR SOMEWHERE LIKE THAT THEY CALLED 50 TIMES IN A ROW YESTERDAY SOMETIMES ITS UNKNOWN CALLER THEN AT THESES NUMBERS. I CALLED THE POLICE THEY TOLD ME TO CALL THE BBB BETTER BUISNESS BUERO

I have been getting phone call fron 1-704-266-4213 saying this is and investigation and they even have my last 4 SS#. This is the forth call today from them, when the call comes in it is a 0000 number. I will not answer this call again.

Tell them you are aware this is an extortion scam and hang up. Notify the FTC:
http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/contact.shtm and put fraud alerts on all three credit reports.

Also, be sure and let your employer know what is going on and refer them to the ABC News story I provided in my  previous post.

THEY ARE CALLING MY JOB AND MY CELL PHONE. TALKING CRAZY AND CALLING PEOPLE OUT OF THERE NAMES, WHEN I ASK WHATS THE COMPANY NAME THEY WILL NOT GIVE ME A NAME. THEY DID THIS LAST YEAR AND NOW THEY ARE DOING IT THIS YEAR.. WHAT DO I DO?

Phantom Debt Collectors From India Harass Americans, Demand Money

By BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) , CINDY GALLI and MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk)
June 7, 2012

Hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped Americans have been targeted by abusive debt collectors operating out of overseas call centers suspected of links to organized crime in India, law enforcement officials told ABC News.

The calls are part of a massive scam, one that appears to target struggling Americans -- especially those who have gone online to apply for payday loans. Armed with personal information from those pilfered applications, the threatening callers, who claim to be debt collectors poised to initiate legal action, have managed to pry loose millions of dollars from their victims -- even when the victims never owed money in the first place.

"This is what we call a phantom debt collection scam," said Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. "It's a very pernicious and innovative new fraud."

Working through call centers in India, the commission estimates that the criminals have dialed at least 2.5 million calls, persuading already cash-strapped victims to send them more than $5 million. Some have reported receiving dozens of calls per hour. They are victims like Cindy Gervais, of New Orleans, who went online for a quick loan when her husband's car was hit by a driver who didn't have insurance.

Even though she paid the loan off, the so-called "phantom" debt collectors with Indian accents began calling to say she still owed money.

He more or less told me that if I didn't pay, they were going to have someone on my doorstep to arrest me," she told ABC News. "And that they were going to contact my place of business, and tell them what kind of person I am."

At first, she said she resisted. Then the calls became more frequent, and started to ring on her cell phone, and at the grocery distribution company where she had worked for 27 years.

"I was more or less was in panic mode because he told me there would be someone before noon at my place of business to arrest me and take me to jail," she said tearfully. "So I agreed to pay him."

After receiving scores of complaints, investigators with the FTC said they began tracking the calls, and following the payments. They alleged the payments led them to a California company run by an Indian-American named Kirit Patel, and that such scams would not be possible without American front men.

"I would say that all roads of this scam, or many of the roads of this scam, lead back to Mr. Patel," said the FTC's Leibowitz.

ABC News tracked Patel for weeks, from the suburbs of San Francisco to Austin, Texas.

Patel refused to talk. But his lawyer, Mark Ellis, said he believes it is far too early to pass judgment on his client. Ellis, a Sacramento-based attorney, told ABC News that Patel was hired for a nominal fee to set up an American shell company, and had no idea what the call centers in India were doing.

"I can tell you, he was as snookered by the people in India as anybody," Ellis said. "He's a 69-year-old man who is nearing his retirement who thought all he had to do was set up some corporations and everything was on the up and up. He's completely dismayed that he has become the lightning rod of this entire problem."

A close friend of Patel's also defended him in a brief interview at his home, saying Patel was not trying to defraud anyone -- he was just an unwitting, bit player in a larger scheme.

"If Mr. Patel was just a cog in the wheel he seems to have been a pretty big cog," Leibowitz said. "It is clear that Patel was integrally involved with this scam."

Leibowitz points to thousands of pages of financial and phone records gathered by the FTC and filed as part of a civil case brought against him in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento last month. When FTC lawyers sought to freeze his assets and prevent his business from continuing to operate, Patel responded by invoking his rights against self-incrimination. His lawyer told ABC News he has had to be careful in how he responds to the allegations in civil court "because there is a potential criminal action," but that Patel maintains the allegations against him are false.

Federal investigators said the phantom debt collection operation that allegedly benefitted from Patel's assistance was one of several that all trace back to the same small town in Western India called Ahmedabad. Callers use technology to make it appear that the calls originate inside the U.S. Victims provided ABC News with recordings of dozens of the calls, and many of the thickly accented callers appear to be reading off a script.

"Subpoenas have been readied, and Monday morning you're going to be picked up from your home," one caller says on a victim's voicemail. "And you have children. Don't worry about your children. We have a childcare department to take care of the children."

"You will be behind bars for six months," said another caller. "And once you go behind bars, you will lose your job. Once you are behind the bars, you won't get a single drop of water."

William Peerce Howard, a Tampa attorney who represents victims of harassment from debt collectors, said it takes an especially twisted criminal to use threats and coercion to pry money from someone who is already struggling financially

"These guys really are the most visible villains in America today," he said. "They make a living scaring people."

Mark Merola, of Florida, said he just panicked when the caller told him he might be arrested at the deli where he works in a Florida retirement community.

"I was nervous. I didn't want to embarrass myself, my family," he said. He used his debit card to pay the collector $576.

Afterwards, he says he realized "how stupid I was."

"It just happened so fast," he said. "I got scared."

Leibowitz said he hopes with more attention, future potential targets of the scam will recognize red flags before they turn over any money.

If callers say they are from the police, consumers should know that law enforcement officers do not collect debt for private parties. If the caller is speaking with a thick Indian accent, but calls themselves by a names such as Officer Mike Johnson, that should be a tip off. And if they're calling 40 times in two hours, that's another red flag. "Legitimate debt collectors, legitimate pay day lenders don't do those sorts of things," he said.

Merola said he would like to see anyone involved in the scam prosecuted aggressively.

"There's no place in society for these people," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 16512428&page=2

The same woman as described above called a business 9 times within 13 minute period of time. She is beligerant and was told atleast15 times to not call our number as the person she wishes to contact is not here. She continues to call and refuses to stop, threatening that she will continue until she reaches her intended person. This is the call back number she gave and stated her name was Gloria George. She informed me that the # will reach her directly or her supervisor. She states it's about a SS# and urgent SCAM.....STALKER....HARRASSMENT and no fear of being turned in to law

I got a call from that Kelly Watson woman the (919-378-1437) when I blocked the number she statrted calling from this (704-266-4213 to and she has my SS#.  I think it's all from those online loan places I tried for anyway i think it's a SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been getting the same calls.  Also from another # 919-378-1437 from a woman with a heavy indian accent named "Kelly Watson" calling investigating me.

ITS ALL JUST A SCAM!!!

This # has called my personal cell multiple times in a row today and when I ask who they are they say 'litigation' - which is not the name of a company, thanks. The person calling will not stop now and they have a thick heavy accent and they have tried to stalk me in the past and are bogus bill collectors and scammers. They bought my name and information illegally and they keep switching #'s. Devious indeed so lookout.