This is a criminal extortion scam operating out of India. They are making the calls utilizing VOIP and the names of legitimate firms to make it appear the calls are originating from within the US. There is NO "company" or "debt" and you will NOT be arrested. They are harvesting and/or buying consumers' personal identifying information from unscrupulous websites like the one you may have filled out an application with, and you need to do whatever you can to protect yourself. This includes: Notifying the FTC: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/, placing fraud alerts with all three credit bureaus, notifying your bank and employer and letting these criminals know you are aware they are attempting to extort money for a non-existent debt and have alerted the authorities.

ABC News released an investigative report on this scam in June. The FTC has indicted one of its ringleaders for criminal fraud:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 16512428&page=1

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/08/bgm.shtm

Good Gawd Almighty this had me terrified for a minute until I decided to look this guy up before calling him back.  He called me from 916-287-3815.  Same thing, thick Indian accent, advising me that I was in a lot of trouble about my lawsuit that he would not tell me anything about.  When he asked for my ss# I told him I was not giving him any information until I got information about who HE was.  Thank god you guys posted this, I was really scared that I really was being sued.

I got a call from a man claiming to be an attorney by the name of john anderson claiming that the sheriffs office was going to pick me up from my job in 3 hours. He also called from a different number 7602694169. Earlier I recieved a call from what sounded like the same man claiming to be someone named derrick.

i keep getting the same calls, haven't talked to anyone, just have messages on my voicemail. worried that they really do have my soc number, i put up fraud alerts with the credit reporting bureaus. i would advise everyone else to do the same for caution.

Don't worry it happen to me as well I have only had no more than one seat bealt violation against me.  I tried the number bac it's disconnected now

I had some guy who called me on my cell phone, I have had 3 missed calls. when I did start answering the calls he first told me he was from California. I couldn't hardly make out what he was saying, because it wasn't in English. His calls were on April 21 and one was at 5:57pm he told me that I was in trouble and that some kind of action was going to be taking against me. He told me he had my address, social security number and I got mad and hung up on him. He called back again at the exact same time yelling about other things so I hung up on him again. He called back at 6:00pm twice and then 6:05pm and the number he was calling from was 760-269-4173 He kept telling me something about me being in trouble and that legal action would be taking against me. It was really hard to make out all what he was saying, but I could understand a little bit. I hung up on him again. He has not called back yet so far!! I just couldn't figure out what this guy wanted, because I haven't even done anything wrong that I even know of!!

Got me to under Ronnie Cooper told me to call him bac when I had the money by noon to num 2132893789 and no i didn't call him back.  Someone needs to put him in jail.

THIS FOOL HAS BEEN CALLING ME ALL DAY LEAVING MESSAGES SAYING HIS NAME MICHAEL JOHNSON WISHING ME GOOD LUCK IF I DON'T RETURN HIS CALL. YEAH RIGHT NOT SCARED YOU'RE A SCAM ARTIST I DONT OWE YOU ANYTHING JACK***!...


APRIL 21,2012

This guy is nothing but a scam artist. he had called me telling me i had a lawsuit against me and that someone was going to arrest me at my employment and court. I wrote the number down and the name that was given to me which was Ronnie Cooper and took it to the police station. They confirmed that it was a scam.

i got the same message today from some obvious foreigner named "michael johnson"

Recieved a call from the 7602694173 number on my cell I didn't answer then my phone at work starts ringing I answer it, because I had too, and they asked for me by name.  The lady told me that I had a criminal charge against me and needed to call the same number she was calling me from to talk to Ronnie cooper.  I could barely understand her and she wouldn't give me any info at all.  I knew this was not right first off I know there's no way I have criminal charges! Called in to the number anyway and the guy told me that I was lying.  About 2 hours later I received another call from them stating the same info and recited the last 4 of my social. While on the phone I googled the number and found this site and proceeded to tell him off and that he was fooling no one with the scam.  He kept asking who told me it was a scam and finally hung up hopefully that's the end of them calling.  I cant have them calling my place of work like that so ridiculous!

I have been getting these call myself. Rick John  at Victorville CA 760-269-4213 he has the nerve to call my job and threaten to send the cops. He's left me numerous of messages and always say  wish you good luck and may God bless you.

I had these calls from "Rick Johnson" from 760-269-4173.  At first when I called back to see what it was about, this guy said he was an attorney with the Federal Bureau of Customer and Business Affairs, and that I had the 3 charges filed against my name and SSN in a criminal lawsuit, and he would like to know the name of my attorney.  I asked him who filed the lawsuit, and he said, "You mean you don't know what it's about?.....hold on".  Then he came back and read me a "statement" about it.  I said that I had recently filed for bankruptcy, and he said "we don't recognize bankruptcy", and we'll be sending a sherrif down to your place of work tomorrow.  This had me scared so I started some research into this, thinking that it might actually be a scam.

I found numerous posts of similar things happening (also from this same number and same person) and it seems that they use the same script word for word.

The advice below to contact the FTC, and IC3 as well as to post a fraud alert on your credit file is a good idea.

For the fun of it, I called "Rick" back today, and told him I was aware of the scam he was operating.  He said "Suck my @#$%".  Oh well, I guess that pissed him off.

I just received a call at work from some Indian guy and told me I needed to contact Ronnie Cooper (760) 269-4173 regarding a lawsuit filed against me.

new number... 917 781 1061

I have been calling the number non stop for days tieing up his phone line. one less phone he can use to scam people.

Yes I got the call  today as well!! Idiots!

I just got the same call. I let hime know that i know about the scam, he said he will send sherif to my house. Laughed at him and he hunged up the phone.

rosemary caudill this is marvin smith i need you or your attorney to return my call .do not disregard this message. I need to hear from you or your attorney.If not good luck to you and our number is 760-269-4173 and again my number is 760-269-4173  good bye

RONNY COOPER  SSN 680766890

This indian guy keeps calling my cell phone and my work making threats... i have NO loans and dont want a loan...

We just got a call just this number wanting us to get to a Kroger as soon as possible to pay him $730. The number he told us to call back was 213-289-3789. He threatned me and my husband with legal action and that he was going to be arrested tomorrow morning. He told me that asking him for account information was bad phone etiquette and to take care of my husband because tomorrow he is going to jail. I want these people to go down! He told me he wasn't going to send me an email of the charges until he got payment. Then went back and told me he would. Then when I said I was going to wait for the email he yelled at me saying "WHY WOULD I SEND YOU AN EMAIL WITHOUT PAYMENT FIRST!!" These people should really charged!

I was in a Dr. appt and received 3 back to back missed calls from this number one minute apart and they left a voicemail. He stated his name was Rick Johnson, with a thick middle eastern accent, with the Federal Legislation of Customer Appreciaiton and Business Regulation. He stated he needed my attorney's information, that there had been a lawsuit against my name and social securtiy number with 3 criminal charges pending. I or my attorney needed to contact him immediately or it would be bad for me. After my appointment, I returned the phone call and asked to speak with Mr. Johnson, the man who answered the phone claimed to be Ronnie Cooper, thick middle eastern accent also, and that I owed them $390.99 for an online loan that would need to be paid immediately or he would have to download the information and have the sheriff arrest me in the morning. When I told him I was having a hard time understanding him, and tried to question him about the  "Alledged loan", when it was taken out, what the amount was, what interest was, or if he could email me information, he just spoke over me and said it was goin to be very bad for me if I didnt pay him immediately. He would have me arrested in front of my kids in the morning and I would go to jail. I had lost patience at this point, and told him to do what he needed to do and I would be more than happy to see him in court. He hung up on me.  Addendum: The sad thing is, is that I had recently gotten an online loan for spring break and had just paid it back on the 5th of this month.... You can bet they are gunna be getting a call!

I did a reverse phone lookup on them and they are in Victorville, Ca. The company that provides the phone service is 360networks (USA) inc. thats all I got. hope that helps and that they get shut down. they threatened my girlfriend and myself both.

Just received a message at work from this Michael Johnson at the (760)269-4173 phone number, stating that he was trying to contact me in regards to a legal matter, and to call him immediately or to have my attorney contact him. If we failed to call it would be very bad, and that he would wish me luck...I had just recently received a small pay day advance....never again...not with this crap going on......

This caller informed me that charges were going to be filed against me in two days if I don't come up with a certain amount of money. When I told them I did'nt know anything about what he was talking about he told me to hang up and call the same # back and ask for John Anderson. When I did it sounded like the same person and he went on to tell me that a case was going to filed against me in two days. He then tried to make arrangements and told me to call him back at 8183373036 when I get the money.

I can also confirm the above mentioned post. A "Attorney John Anderson" called my spouse's phone at about 0657 on 07 April and left a voice mail stating that the situation at hand was time sensitive and that if he did not hear back from my spouse or his Attorney soon, that he would persue action against him and wished him good luck. He left the phone number 760-269-4173. I had no clue as to what it was about and had a a pretty good idea that it was a scam. I googled the name and got multiple returns. So to narrow the search, I added the callback number and found this sight. I don't know about some of you but I have deployed to several middle eastern countries and I know the improper grammer and accent when I hear it. I would hope that no one has actually fallen for this crap. I intend to follow this to the fullest extent and do my part to ensure that these scam artists get caught.

hi just recived a call today with the same info but said it was mike johnson and it souned like a lady from virgin ilands or africa but the same message i want to know these people are i did put in for a loan so now they my info a** wipes i going to call the citys attorny genarals office turn them in....?

Heads up....new name as of 4/7/12...it is John Anderson...same stuff different name now....

Do it! I did and it felt great! The SOB is nothing but a thief!