A man has called me numerous times over the past few days from this number threatening me with a lawsuit and to take me to jail. I have not answered but have messages on my VM. I hope these people get caught. I won't fall for their scams because I know I did nothing wrong. Thanks for the posts because I was worried at first and couldn't find information about this number.

There are two mails who call and threaten me about owing them they are not american speaking and tell me to go to a store and get them a a green money pak and give them a code they have called over a hundred times today and at least that yesterday, I am a 61 yr old widow and they will not leave me alone, they call until my messages are full and even use 911 emergency  I am at wits end.

they keep calling me talkin bout a loan i have never recieved

Thank you for this article.  These people have been calling my job - because I don't answer on my cell phone.  And up until today, it had been stressing me out.  I've been reading the posts of others and now I'm laughing at these poor people.  Mr. "Paul White"  has called me about 20 times today and it's not even 2pm!

I hope the government finds a way to prosecute these people to the full extent of the law so they will stop harrassing hard working people.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/fake-debt-col ... ricans-16515234
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.
PHOTO: Brian Ross of ABC News interviews Kirit Patel, who faces a civil suit for allegedly running call centers in India from which callers harass American consumers and demand immediate payments of nonexistent debt.
ABC News
Brian Ross of ABC News interviews Kirit... View Full Size
Indian Debt Collectors Target US Victims Watch Video
Fake Debt Collectors Harass Americans Watch Video
Debt Collectors Gone Wild: Racist, Offensive Calls Watch Video

"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."

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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."
Indian Debt Collectors Target US Victims Watch Video
Fake Debt Collectors Harass Americans Watch Video
Debt Collectors Gone Wild: Racist, Offensive Calls Watch Video

"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."

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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.

I just got a call my self that they deposited 300.00 to my Acct and if i didn't pay them back i was going to be arrested the guy thought i was a idiot....

This guy called 14 times yesterday finally when I said I would NOT speak to him he started cussing me out. Today he called from a different number, after rejecting it 3 times I put it on my blocked numbers for my cell.
He just keeps calling from different numbers.
I also asked him what county he was a sheriff with, he could not answer except to say the county you live in.

Just received calls from this number and the when I finally picked up and said wrong number they said no it was not.  5 minutes later got a call and caller ID said 911.  Same guy said he was from the Sheriff's Dept.  When I asked what county he said he was Sheriff Officer Shawn Miller.  (Same name as the calls above.) Called local sheriff office and there was no such officer. Noified local sheriff that these individuals impersonating sheriff officers.

This man is driving me crazy, calls numerous times per day says he with attorney General office and that I have defaulted loan.  I am a disabled woman and hes really starting to bother me

These idiots have been calling my home and my cell.  I  have contacted my home phone and cell carriers and have now blocked this #.  They can attempt to call from now until doomsday, and I will NOT respond.  I really don't know what good the NATIONAL DO NOT CALL program is, as both #'s are registered with them, and I still get these insidious calls.  IT NEEDS TO STOP AND STOP NOW!!

I recieved several calls from this number (middle eastern men claiming to be police officers and county attorneys office) at work and on my cell phone, claiming I had a debt that was going to be submitted to court and I need to pay now via moneypak to stop legal action. They had my ss#, date of birth and bank info, after I called my local PD and made a report they still were calling as "emergency incoming call" They also left me a threatening vm saying they would find me and peresonally sue me. Scary World that someone could know so much.

I too received a phone call from this number. It was an either Indian guy or Pakistan guy I couldn't tell either. He called my place of work and tried to reach me there. I did however call him back and he also said to me that there was a criminal investigation out on my social security number and that he would take legal action if I did not pay $395 for a loan that I NEVER received. I told him to send me paper statements to prove that I received the loan. He said they do not do that. If you fill out applications online to get a loan, some scammers can get ahold of your information. I will never give out personal information again. I had to change my cell number and tell my place of employment to tell them I don't work there anymore. I only realized that it was a scam after the fact that the guy told me to repay the loan by using a (Money-Pak) card. The reason they say to repay using this card is because it is UNSECURE and UNTRACEABLE! This number is nothing but a bunch of scammers trying to take your money. DON'T FALL FOR IT!

Same thing he just call me minutes ago he said his from legal investigation department I Never had a doubt that it's a scam he even can't pronouces my name then his scam this is for u scammer get a job psycho

ese cabrón me dijo lo mismo q mi seguro social q me y van a de portal o me y van a blokear el ss#
Tengan cuidado alias gadiel

This is a scam they called saying I woudl get arrested and what not the guy said his name was Shawn Miller but had a bad accent.

I too received a call from this number today around 10:00 a.m. A female with an accent informed me there was "a complaint against my social security number". I asked where she was from and she told me she was from the United States...something Legal department. I told her I was unaware of this company and told her to send me a letter and stop calling. I hung up, only to her her call me again and she left me a message on my VM. I will not call them back. Since when does the US government agency call you on anything? And, of course it was my cell phone....... Never! Scam artists at their best!

Threatened to send the police to my home and work if I didn't call them back. So I called n told them if they call me again I will report them n then he told me not to call back n hung up. What people will do for money.

This guy who sounds like he is either from Pakistan or India claimed that there was a law suite against myself or my husband  social security #  .   I told him that there was not and hung up after this post will report this number to the police.

this guy called me threatening me about there was a criminal investigation against my name and SS# I told him i knew he was trying to scam me then he started bagging me to give him $200 bucks i told him no and he keep telling me how pour he was and that it was so hard living in Pakistan could i just give him $200 bucks i told him if he was going to try and scam Americans that we say dollars not bucks when trying to make a legitimate transaction and if he flew here i would give him the $200 dollars and a real job after i kicked him in the nuts, i also told him to get a real job and stop trying to scam people it was quit funny  he stayed on the phone with me for 45 mins and then i reminded him that this was a international call and he was wasting the money he scammed from other people , then he hung up