Get your F@%$#^&*G facts straight before you start pointing fingers at anybody.
They won't be here if you could do anything yourself and didn't need their help.

Got a call from this number around 7:51am this morning, which I found fishy because what business of any type would call that early. The man, a "John Smith" (how original), could barely speak english and left a message on my machine saying he was with some law firm and that if I or my attorney didn't call him back by a certain time, all he could do was wish me luck. I'm pretty sure this is some scam.

These are scamming jerks from India scaring people out of there money. NEVER give them money. I have called the police and read horror stories online. My lil revenge after they scared the hell out of me telling me i was going to be arrested at work. I posted a Rant on Craigslist under Rants & Raves, telling anyone who was having a bad day to call Edward and give him a piece of their mind. with a full explanation of how these jerks from india were stealing money from POOR Americans.

I went to the police about this and they told me to change my number. What about the calls I'm getting at work? I finally told my work to tell anyone who called I did not work there anymore. These Indian A-holes are the only ppl who call my work anyway.

Just recieved a call from this number from someone named Edward said he was calling from Moran law firm and they had a case against me for a payday loan that was never paid back. Well had a feeling it was a Scam cause i never recieved a payday loan.

I Started Getting Calls From This Number A Week Ago..... They Would Say I Owe $300 For A Payday Loan About A mouth Or So Ago I Know I Applied For A Loan But Never Actually Got One.......They Say If U Dont Pay They Will File A Lawsuit Against Me And Take Me To Jail.........I Know Its Bull Crap Cause If I Ask U For Wat Company Are U Referring To And U Tell Me I Will Find Out When Im In Court And U Cant Provide No Kind Of Info On This So Called Loan I Used Then I Know Its A Definite Scam.........But Im Supposed To Be Changing My # Anyways So They Can Speak To The Dial Tone........HAHA!!

I just received one of those calls and he basically told me the same thing and also from the same company. They also had all of my information, which is kind of scary. This justs makes me angry....

This guy keeps calling and harrassing me to pay for something.  He is foreign with American names. Yes, names. Every time he calls he has a different name.  He claims that I owe a company, a name he says so fast, I can't understand what he says.  If I don't call with my attorney's info or if my attorney doesn't call, then they will take me to civil court. They have my name, ss number, bank info, and address. If I don't resolve this issue I will get fired and someone will come to my house.  This is getting out of control.  In a week he calls roughly 5 times a day.

This is just another number used by the "Indian scam" -- an offshore group of people trying to dupe innocent Americans into turning over thousands of dollars to them.  They often claim to be lawyers.  They use American names, even though they have thick Indian accents.  They use "spoofed" phone numbers, so they appear to be in the U.S., even though they are working out of Indian call centers; using spoofed numbers is actually illegal.  They often make hilariously bogus statements -- for example that, if you don't pay them any money, the government will take away your Social Security number, or that they have policemen who work for them as debt collectors.  They usually claim that you have unpaid payday loans, even if you have never taken out a payday loan or have paid one off years ago.  Once in a while, they name a real payday loan company, but when you call that company, its lawyers will tell you that: a) you don't owe money; b) they have never worked with this 'India scam' company; and c) they are actually trying to take legal action against the company, which is hurting their legitimate loan operations.  Sometimes, they branch out and claim that you have other sorts of debt, which you probably don't have.  They make very serious threats.  They call you at your workplace.  They call outside of acceptable calling hours.  

Bottom line: NEVER send these people money.  Tell them that you have reported them to Interpol and the USCIS, which will make sure they never get visas to enter the US, and will deport members of their group already in the U.S.  And if you apply for any loans, try not to do it over the Internet and use only very reputable companies.

I called them back about 15 times and was repeatedly hung up on. someone finally decided to talk to me and i asked if they were going to continue calling me about their scam (3 years is too long to deal with this problem). He said that i was the one calling them and if i called one more time he would place me on a list to be called at least 10 times a day. We'll see if i receive anymore calls, but he pretty much admitted to this being a scam. The business is listed no where on the internet that i can find, so i am unable to place a complaint. If i do receive more calls, I will be contacting a lawyer to file for harrassment. I am sick of this.

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

i have been getting calls from them for close to 3 years threatening to take legal action against me about a payday loan i never received. it just makes me angry that they have all my information, including my social security number. i cannot find anything about the law firm online and wish to call the better business bureau or even the police. i feel very harassed because this has taken place over such a long period of time.

Kick those guy back to india!! Stupid indians

This is a scam trying to scare money out of people by telling them they are going to be taken to court.  They have been calling me for the past several months.  I just tell them that this is a scam and to go ahead and take me to court.  So far, they have not gone beyond the first call.

Keep getting a call saying they have a legal claim against me and there going to come to my work and serve me court papers.

Sayin its moran laywer. N that it a loan. N i havent done no loan what so ever

This person is mean and annoying and keeps making threats!!! I do not have a clue who this man is and I wish that he would leave me alone!!!!!

This number calls me over and over to get money from a outstanding payday loan I have no clue over.. telling me I must pay it now or they will come to my job or house to pick me up.for investigation. Dis seems like a scam cuz his name is David but last name is different everytime..I call back he has all my info but I have no info regarding to a case that is pending against me

This number called our lines constantly from 9a-7p one after another tying up our system...our customers complained that they could not get through to our help desk. We are investigating the source and taking action for the loss of business.