An Indian man namedDavid Martin called today and left a voicemail.  He claimed to have a warrant for my arrest.  He had the last 4 digits of my social security number.  He said something about hanging up on him.  He said I will know what a real nightmare is and that I should get the best lawyer God can provide.  His Indian accent was so heavy that I had to listen to the message 4 or 5 times to understand it all.

I have called my local sheriff's office.  They are making a report.  The deputy that I called said he would call David.  I have been instructed to tell them that I am in contact with law enforcement.

The caller called my job and cell phone staying his name was David Martin and he was with the Miami Federal law enforcemenr department he stated that I took out a payday advance some time back and owed $300 and was to submit the payment to them through Western Union, Money Gram or via credit or debit card or I would be picked up by the authorities at my home or on my job. I called my local Attorney General and they stated it is a scam pay no attention to it. He called back and asked if I were on my way to the Western Union and told me to send the money to a Geraldine White in Newark, NJ. I can only wonder what they will think of next.

David Martin Called my job and have a very strong Indian Accent and said I was involved in a legal matter as a primary suspect and he has my social and address he would not give me his info he said he was sending the cops to my home and job.

Received same call from "David Martin", also with a heavy Indian accent.  Call was made to my cell phone, but asking for someone other than myself.  Suspect scam in which you call back and your phone is hit with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ in long distance charges.  Whatever you do, don't call them back!  I filed a complaint with the FTC.

a call from 786-752-7174 from a John Black with an Indian accent.  He said he was with a financial crimes investigation dept.  very strange person and he won't tell me any details. Just wants me to call him back.

A message was left from "Andrew McDonald" (in a heavy Indian accent) claiming that he was involved in a legal matter involving my name and SS#.  I was instructed to call the number back immediately.

The message was left on my home voice mail but for a name not associated with my number.

I RECEIVE A CALL FROM THIS PPL REGARDING A LEGAL MATTER WITH MY SS# IT WAS A GUY WITH A VERY STRONG ACCENT LIKE INDIAN

This is a total scam, and a felony, this Indian guy called me 9 or 10 times the last two days with the name "Justin brown." He also called me once about a year ago with the exact same speech about how the "situation will unfold on me." major BS

I also got a call from this number.  When I called back he was very rude when I refused to give info.  he told me to take my husband's di@% in my hand and shove it in my pu@@y.  So, I began blowing up their phone...they are no longer taking my calls.  lol...2 can play that game.  Blow up their phones, be persistant, do what you got to do to irritate them.  It seems to be working.

This is truly a scam, using scare-tactics to get money from innocent people. I knew something wasn't right when the guy said his name was David Martin but the voice was middle eastern(huh-huh). I went to my bank and allowed the manager to listen to the message that was left on my voice mail and together we looked up the number only to find out it was a "scam", then we checked my bank activity just to be safe. This is very sad and these people need to be in jail because I bet someone has truly been taking for a ride by this guy or others like him,its just not right.....

I got the same message and my husband called the number back, from his phone and threatened him! I have heard nothing since.

This guy has called me every day for a week.  Today he said if I don't call back I will have to face the 'worst nightmare of my life'.  I'm apparently the primary suspect in a crime according to him.  Since I've never gotten so much as a speeding ticket in my life, I think he should try pulling this scam on someone who falls for it.  I've reported it to local authorities, the Attorney General's office in my state, the Federal Trade Comission and ic3.gov.

david martin called and stated that an officer will be at my door step to arrest me. he also stated that he was with"Federal Financial department" i asked if he was weith a US Government agency and he stated that he was. his reason for calling me was that "there was a legal complaint against me and my SS# will be blocked" i called and left a vm atating that i would be reporting him to the nearest secrete service agency and other local athorities....

This guy calls me every day back to back and the number that shows up is 0000.  He finally left a message stating that he was calling from Financial Crime Services and it would be in my best interest to call him back at 786-752-7174.  Sometimes when he calls and I answer he doesn't say anything at all or just hangs up.  I ended up calling the number back from a different phone and the same guy acted like an operator saying he needed to get my last name to figure out who called when in the message he had already stated that I would be calling his office directly at the 786-752-7174.  I was put on hold 3 times and he kept asking for my last name.  Finally I said you have all the information since you just called me what is this about.  He hung up.  Now I did attempt to apply for an online cash advance about 3 or 4 months ago but I never went through with it or electronically signed any contracts.  So be ware of this man who calls himself David Martin

someone has called continuosly i cant understand what he is saying or what hes talking about nothing is explained just the threat i better call back or else to bad for me.

i RECEIVED A VERY DISTURBING MESSAGE THIS MORNING FROM AN INDIAN SOUNDING MAN NAMED ANDREW MCDONALD.  HE SAID I OWE MONEY TO CASH ADVANCE NOW TODAY OR I WOULD BE SUED BY A TEAM OF 15 LAWYERS.  HE WAS VERY LOUD,RUSE,HARASSING, AND OBNOXIOUS.  I ASKED HIM WHAT THIS WAS ALL ABOUT, HE SAID I AM BEING RECORDED AND THAT I WAS A LIAR AND OWED THE MONEY AND NEED TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO PAY IT NOW! I WAS SCARED AND FURIOUS. I DO NOT OWE ANY CASH ADVANCE COMPANY ANY MONEY AND AFTER 10 MINUTES OF HIM SCREAMING AT ME ON HOW THEY WERE GOING TO D=SUE ME BASED ON DEFAULT AND DECEPTION CHARGES I HUNG UP THE PHONE.  I WANT TO PRESS CHARGES AGAINST THIS MAN AND THIS COMPANY.  I HAVE A VERY SERIOUS ILLNESS AND THIS HAS MADE ME VERY ILL. WHAT CAN I DO TO STOP THIS THANK YOU SHAWN MORSE
SHAWNRN210@HOTMAIL.COM

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

Same SOB tried to do the same thing with my wife.

Scumbag scam artists! Just ignore them!

he called my cell also, threatened to download "my file" to the courthouse for legal action.  when I told him if he was a legitimate business, he would tell me the name of his company, he transfered me to his supervisor and i had to listen to the most god-awful tones.  supervisor also would not tell me the name of the company and threatened to "download my file".  when i called him a son of a bi***, he called me a bi*** back and hung up.
this apparently is from a place called cash advance, he told me he had my email, address, phone numbers, etc so I must have filled out an application.  i never filled one out and i most certainly never received any money.  in these times that information is easy to obtain.

This man called David Martin, called my home and left a message that I was a PRIME SUSPECT with a lawyers office and that I needed to call back immediatley and how embarrassing it would be if the police should up at my home or work....Thay are a mortgage loan place...After I told him that I didn't understand him, he hung up!!