Actually I got a call and it came up on 911 - the guy said that he was calling from the New Jersey County Sheriff's department and that he was on behalf of Andrew Morgan from the US Financial and Crime Prevention Department - he said that Andrew Morgan's telephone number is 347-338-1234.

I got a voicemail from some scam outfit and they left this number as their callback number.  The original number was 903-841-5171 (with a + in front of the number indicating that it might be off shore).  I did not call either number back.  They are criminals.

They left me a voicemail saying they were from the crime something something, and they actually gave me my cousins name.  I've actually been getting numerous calls from a bunch of different weird numbers ever since my cousin put me as a reference for a furniture set that she bought... but never paid for.  At first it was creditors trying to reach her through me, but now the calls are just getting weird.  Now they're just calling and calling, but this is the first time they actually left me a message.  But like I said, they've been a lot of different phone numbers.

My mom received a call from these people ( a Foreign guy claiming to be James Smith, haha yeah right) saying they were from the Crime Investigation Unit and needed to speak with me. These guys are so fake. I mean really. This is the worst scam ever because these guys trip themselves up. The number was unlisted and is 813-964-3233 and I mean if you work for the FBI or any federal investigation unit, why do you need my mom to track me down. I'm not that hard to find. I have been in the same place for a while and all of my mail comes here...hmmm. I'm so peeved that there is no way to stop these guys. I had to change my phone number and so did my mom. How fake can you possibly get? So my advice to James Smith is hop back on the boat with Pochantas and sail your scam somewhere else!

A harrassing phone scam.  You can tell the person is reading from a script, and not very well either, and when finished with the statement just continues to ramble on about legal action with no reference to anything.  The odd thing is that you can hear the same conversations and statements being said by a bunch of other people, on phones apparently, in the background.  I reported this and you should as well if you receive this call.

We keep getting the same messages, and they will call over and over they filled up our answering machine, seriously@@! i am not falling for their scam!!

I just received a second call from this number.  They are threatening to investigate me and my place of employment for not paying some fee.  They had my email address and my social security number.  However, when I told them that I would pay the fee if I saw written documentation of exactly what I owe he just stated that he would pursue further legal action.  He could not produce anything written.

I just got a call from that number and he has my address, last for digits of SSN and said I had some outstanding debts.  He said he was an officer and to call him right away.  I live in CT

I got a call from this # they left me a voice mail stating that they are from federal criminal apprehation this the second call that I have gotten from this same guy but the first time it was from another # stating that  I am wanted and he is on his way to arrest me

8139643233- This number has been nothing shy of total harassment. Today is the 2nd call to my cell phone, 3 to my home, once at my work, and the last one at my neighbors house (next door). So tomorrow I'm calling the FBI with this number and a location in Tampa, Florida. Ha, Ha, Scumbag Thieves!

This was a woman calling but she sounded like a man trying to be a woman's voice, she said that they had a case against me and I told them I needed more information and got down to the address and she got outraged and hung up on me after saying she was going to call my supervisor.  i told her go ahead and told my boss they were going to call. The first person I talked to gave one name of United Legal Department and then the girl that got on officer Jessica Bronw was with US Federal Crime Division.

Hi Everyone,

I had copy this from another place to show everyone this and to know what to do. This information was sent from The Saint, to help us all.

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

I just got a call from the same guy. Sound like he's from India something, saying the same things. However, this time he called from 615-671-9943. Threatening saying that I don't call him, there will be police officers on my door step, then I will have to go to court and pay thousands, and thousands of dollars. The scary part he has all my personal information. How do we stop these scammers? Anyone?

I've received calls from these boys several times in the last year. Seven different people all claiming to be representatives of the US Financial Crime and Prevention Department. All of them give American names but talk with a Indian or Pakistan accent. They have threatened me with arrest at my home or at work. I filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Attorney State Generals office but have not heard back from them yet. I sort of look forward to thier calls now because I discovered about 6 months ago that they don't really represent anyone except themselves. They are pretty easy to get riled up if you tell them who they represent and the names of thier coworkers before they even mention it, and you are correct and tell them to go F#*@ themselves.

Yeah, this 813-964-3233 just called my grandfather and my mom claiming a bunch of crap. He called himself Officer Dan White and had a Jamaican accent...lol

Got a call 4/29 from a person with a heavy accent (Indian or Pakistani perhaps) who identified himself as working for the US Bureau of Investigations Fraud Dept, supposedly out of Miami.  He addressed me by my slang name and wanted to know if I knew a person (who had the same last name as mine).  I told him I may or may not.  He got irritated and had his supervisor come on the line.  This lady had a very thick accent too and demanded that I tell her if I knew this person.  She then threatened to send someone to knock on my door.  I told her if they knocked on my door they better be wearing a badge, then she hung up on me.

Today I recieved a phone call from a "mark Johnson" after they unsuccessfully tried to scammed me, they gotten really loud with me because I had stated I couldn't understand them and they need to learn more English if they gona wanna scam people..lol I am now in the process of contacting someone for legal actions.

P.s I am not racist because I am asain

Called my work three times.  2 different people with strong foreign accents.  Identified themselves as "Officer...." with Crime Prevention and Crinminal Reports.  I hung up on them the first two times.  the third time the caller said "I am now sending some cops to arrest you!"

813-964-3233 called me and threatened me with sending to jail and is impersonating a police law enforcement.

I receive calls from these people once a week and they are now up to at least 4 different numbers!! It is a fraud and it sucks I recently had to change all my information!

I received a call from this phone # today. I have been receiving calls from the US Financial Crime and Prevention Dept. for about a year.

An Officer Steve Collins with a thick Asian accent called me at work today and requested that an employee call him back regarding an unresolved legal issue. He gave the ficticious employee's name and last four of the social. I began a counter investigation into the stated agency and then requested that he put on his supervisor. At that point he hung up on me. I called back twice and he again hung up.

I was left a message today by this same voice that has called me several times trying too intimidate me.  I will not return the call.

They've been calling my house for months now saying my husband got a "Payday Loan" etc....my husband don't even know how to use the computer!  He didn't even have my husband's name right to begin with and when I told him so he started calling me a liar and threatening to have a warrant issued for our arrest..I told him to go ahead and do it and we would see who went to jail first!  They quit calling for about a month then started again.

I received a phone call and voice mail from an Officer Frank Martin from the Unites States Financial Crime and Prevention department in association with the law division of Tampa Verda Headquarters. He said my name was mentioned in a case along with several others that will he set forth in the "State County of Ohio" (I live in Ohio, there is not Ohio county...) and if i do not want my financial record to be searched (or something along those lines) I need to call back today. He then stated his call back number twice said "good luck" and hung up. I called back the number only to hear my voice echoed back. I immediatly called my phone company (ATT) and found this site while waiting on hold. The person there said basically it's only in the movies that people can get your credit information from calling someone back (which was a concern of mine). He suggested I call my local police. Local police said they had never heard of that division and that I should contact the Attorney General and file a fraud complaint, which I did. I really hope someone actually looks into this and catches this group of people. I'm sure someone gave them information and they're having a ball with it.  Weird thing is that about an hour after all this happened my friend called me and said the exact thing happened to her earlier today. So they're feeling confident. I hope other people are finding this page and contacting the Attorney General too.

I also just received a call from Officer Frank Martin representing the United States Financial Crime and Prevention Dept.  I didn't talk directly to him, he left a voice message.

I just received this call from a man with a middle eastern accent named Office James Carter.  He was looking for a guy that I work with on that works out on the floor.  I told him that I couldn't page him unless it was an emergency.  He said it was and I said no it wasn't because he couldn't even say his last name.  

I asked him if he knew it was illegal to portray himself as a police officer.  He said yes and then quickly said no.  He said he wasn't a police officer and that he was with United Financial Crime Division.  We have dealt with this company before regarding the same co-worker.  I used to work as a Communications Officer so I am aware of these tricks and know B.S. when I hear it!

Consumer Alert: Attorney General warns Kansans of debt collection scam

January 29, 2010 -- Attorney General Steve Six is cautioning Kansas consumers about telephone calls from apparent fake debt collectors who are impersonating law enforcement officers in an effort to extort money from consumers.   Consumers are warned to not submit payments to these fraudulent debt collectors.

When calling, the scammers most often state they are attempting to collect a debt related to an internet payday loan obtained by the consumer, but which the consumer never repaid.  Consumers state they have never obtained such a loan or paid off the loan years ago.  The scam artists have most recently identified themselves as ACS, National Affidavit Processing Department and United Financial Crime Division, but may use additional phony names.  It appears the phone numbers used by the scammers are ?spoofed? numbers, so that the number appearing on a consumer?s caller ID is not the actual number of where the call originated. It appears the calls in question may be originating from outside the United States.

When questioned, the individual calling refuses to disclose the full name or address of the collection agency they claim to represent.  These scammers have been able to provide consumers with identifying information, such as the consumer?s social security number, home address, e-mail address, names of family members and the consumer?s computer IP address.  Since the callers are able to provide valid personal information, consumers may become confused and believe they are being contacted in regard to a legitimate debt.

If the initial debt collection scam is unsuccessful, consumers have been re-contacted months later with the scammers posing as law enforcement officers or officers of the court.  Typically, the consumer is threatened with arrest for fraud or some other fictitious crime unless the consumer agrees to immediately wire money via Western Union.  The fictitious officers strive to frighten and confuse consumers into compliance by using legal sounding terms such as ?We?re filing an affidavit against you? or by stating a lawsuit has been or is in the process of being filed against the consumer.

A hallmark of each scam has been calling consumers repeatedly at their place of employment.  This scam hit home when an employee of the Kansas Attorney General?s Office was repeatedly called both on her cell phone and at work.  Despite the employee?s repeated verbal disputes, the caller refused to provide any identifying information to allow her to send a written dispute. The scammer also continued to call her numerous times a day regarding a payday loan she denied obtaining. Two months later, she was again contacted by telephone by an individual identifying himself as an ?officer?.

?I denied owing the debt and refused to pay without being provided validation of the debt. I was then told, ?If that?s the case, I will have local law enforcement come to your place of business and drag you out kicking and screaming?,? stated the employee.

?It is important for consumers to know their rights under the law,? Attorney General Six said. ?If a consumer is receiving calls from a debt collection company and believe it is a scam, I encourage them to contact our office immediately.?

Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), collectors are required to send consumers a written notice within five days of the initial contact.  The notification should contain  information such as the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed and a statement informing the consumer they have thirty days to contact the debtor in writing to dispute the debt or request validation of the debt. In addition, legitimate debt collectors are prohibited by the FDCPA from making false or misleading representations, such as the consumer has committed a crime, implying nonpayment will result in the consumer?s arrest, or using the threat of violence.

More information is available on the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf.

To register a complaint with the Kansas Attorney General?s Consumer Protection Division, call 1(800) 432-2310 or visit www.ksag.org.

http://www.ksag.org/page/consumer-alert-attor ... collection-sca

Can you give me a call reference your post

813-276-3668

I got a call too it was scary he knew all your information and he said u were going to jail by 4:00pm my time