they have called 26 times in the last 4 days. they claim we have a payday loan, which is a lie. they have threatened us in so many ways. 4 voice mails were left last night and i called our local sheriffs office. i was told to save the v/ms. they were sexually threatening me and went into detail what they would do to me if my husband didnt pay it... they have even called my husband at work... another # to be on the watch for is 760-289-5165... they left a msg today stating that we would be sorry if we didnt pay it...

I hae had the same thing happen to me today. They called me at my place of business and threatened if I didnt pay this "payday loan" I would be sued and they would arrest me at my work. I explained to them I have not gotten a payday loan they said it didn't matter I was still being sued. I would be arrested within 2 hours it has been an hour and a half....

11-15-10 Received threatening call today from Gary Miller and Doug Wilson, both of middle eastern decent based on accent, and both sounded like same person.  Threatened with suit, arrest, loss of my drivers license and social security number if I did not immediately pay them $795.00.  They said this was for United Cash Loan which I have no idea what that is.  They kept saying I ran away with their money and they want it back.  They had my name, address, business address, boss information, and bank information.  It was scary and they kept threatening me.  Gave me a bogus mailing address and a fax number of 7145983357 and phone 7602895165.  Called 4 times today.  I have called the Sherriff, district attorney, CA state Bar Assoc since they say they are attorneyss and the FTC.

receive calls from this #, person with heavy accent and somewhat hard to understand. stating I have better call or have my lawyer call and if not all they can do is wish me luck, the person makes himself sound like someone with authority and they never really give a company name or when they do it is hard to understand
so now I have saved it on my voice mail and will follow
up with the FTC and any other necessary Departments

i got a call too...did you have a bank of america account. when i ask for the supposed company they tell me some bogus name and harrass me about a lawsuit. i thought you had to be served with papers for a lawsuit and they keep telling me there are no papers.

Michelle, don't buy into it they are scam. They told me they were going to send me to "debtors prison" if I didn't pay this supposed payday loan(which I never got) they call my work non stop (I work in retail) it is annoying. I really like how they have american names but yet can barely speak english. Just dpn't buy into it. They just want your bank information or credit card and take all your money. I want to find out how we can get them in trouble, I don't see how they can get away with it!!!

thank you...i did a reverse look up on the phone number and it is a cell phone. they don't even answer with a company name.

So they called me once again and I told them to give up I'm not going to pay they were jsut going to have to come and arrest me and they told me I was going to prosin and I would be slaugtered so tell my family goodbye. I called FTC today and reported it so I would do the same if I were you. The number is 877-382-4357

Cyber Crime Division - some heavy accented Indian telling me I better call or someone might come to my home or work place....

I just received a voice message from Albert from India.  He threaten to pick me up and hold me until my court date if I did not call him back.  He said it would cost me 5000.00 for what I do not know.  
Very interesting I must say.

I received a call today 11-15-10.  I only answered because they woke me up and I thought it was one of my staff calling in sick.  Gary Milled a heavily accented male claimed to be an attorney trying to settle a debt for $795 that he claimed I had from either 2001 or 2007, it was difficult to understand him.  He said I needed to pay with a credit or debit card or the police would come and arrest me.  That I would loose my drivers license and social security card, never see my family again.  That if I did not pay within 1 hour I would have someone at my door, my place of employment and at my bosses office.  It was somewhat unsettling, since he was very persistent.  I asked who he was and what was the debt for and could he mail me something stating what the debt was for.  He said they had already done that and the next step was debtors prison, I guess he was born in the 1800's.  He claimed he was an attorney, I asked for the Senior Attorney who got on the phone and stated his name was Doug Wilson, but it was the same guy.  Both stated they were from William & Scott Associates phone 760-289-5165 fax 714-598-3357.  The address Tower West, Olympic Blvd, Suite 506, Los Angeles, CA 41001 which is not legite, since the zip is not a real one nor would he give me a street number.  They were scary, no doubt about that, but I have contact my local sherriffs office, the FTC, the District Attorney and the CA State Bar Assoc.  They had my full name, address, employer address, and my bank information.

He has been leaving threatening messages on my cell phone and now at work. He has used the name Mark Thompson and Randy Cooper. When I attemped to call him back this morning I got a google voice mail box. He talked with me last week and told me he needed 200.00 by the next day I did not comply.  I told him no and asked what debt I owed he could not really tell but that it was for a payday loan back in Feb. which I did not take out and he made up a phony name for the company I supposed ly owe.  He is calling from a call center in India. His accent makes it hard to understand him. Before Ihung up I told him he was using strong arm tattics.

These dirt bags called my daughter at work and did the same thing to her, They told her if she didn't pay $510 dollars today they would have her thrown in jail within 2 hours.  They also called her work telling them that my daughter was being thrown in jail for not paying a pay day loan.  They also told her work that they were having their attorney call them within 20 minutes.  
This game needs to stop, how many innocent people have fallen for this con-game!

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

There are three people calling me and leaving me messages:  They are- Chris Black, Romiyo McKenzi and Russell Hawkins.  

A man by the name of Romiyo McKenzi called and threaten me.  Saying that i received a $300.00 pay day loan.  And in order to keep it out of court I need to pay $510.00 today.  This man has my Social Security number and names of my relatives.  How did he get that information?

He called and stated that he worked with a cyber unit law firm and that i had received a pay day loan with cash net,when i explain to him that my bank keeps records of all transactions going into my account and that once the court see that i didnt receive funds from that company.owe and he went by the name of Albert Jackson.

A man called stating that i had a payday loan for $300.00 that i never recieved. He said he was from the sheriffs office and that i now owe $918.00 with fees and if i don't resolve this matter then i can go to jail.

This a hole called me at 1am this morning left a message stating he was the shieffs office but I couldn't contact him back....

He is a dirtbag thief who stole it. Contact your bank, change your accounts. Put on a fraud watch on all your stuff.

A man by the name of Romiyo McKenzi called and threaten me.  Saying that i received a $300.00 pay day loan.  And in order to keep it out of court I need to pay $510.00 today.  This man has my Social Security number and names of my relatives.  How did he get that information?

Says he is from a law office and that i recieved a payday loan that i didn't recieve and expects me to pay $300 to keep it out of court. He also read me a "legal affidavit" said his name was Chris Jackson