814-343-7205
PA, US
 | Alfalfa 2012-08-23 12:11:56 Unknown |
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
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
| Cris 2012-08-23 10:22:48 Debt Collector |
The same guy calls me at least several times a day....he even called out all my personal information and left it on my voice mail.....he even said he was from crime prevention and for me to get an attorney since I want answer his calls....he even called from a different number, but I didn't answer...I never answer numbers I don't recognize."...814-343-7205 is the number he calls from the most....I couldn't understand his accent when he called from the 303 area code number
| Mariana 2012-08-07 22:40:04 Debt Collector |
Yap, same story,( this is a new version), I reported it to the FBI, internet and phones division, and they're still calling??? I'll file another report, please everyone do the same, may be it will be taken care of by the real fraud division.
| iyay 2012-07-18 11:08:49 Unknown |
this guy called me yesterday that i need to pay 300 for pre approved that i applied online... whom i never did. he had my ssn add name dob and everything. if i cant pay the 300 i settled everything in court... i told him how am i going to pay him... MODE OF PAYMENT via visa mastercard... i told him i can issue check and money order. id ask for his name...its kenneth brooks from jacksonville FL. this thing really like threaten me at first but my hubby just laugh at me...
| tim 2012-06-28 05:02:38 Debt Collector |
the phone # 8143437205 calls me once a moth looking for me pay for a payday loan that i dont have.they say if i dont they will send a letter to my local court to have me arrested.i ask how i can pay they say credit card or wester union. i say how about money order they say no.so i callthem scams they say bad thing and hang up. just keep calling them back and call them scam scum they block your # after that
| thonn 2012-04-20 23:13:36 Unknown |
scamm
| thonn 2012-04-20 23:13:01 Unknown |
theses ppl are rude calling me saying i owe them 300 on a loan that they wired to my bank i was stupid enough to give the my dept card number its a scamm
| Sally Madison 2012-04-19 20:04:27 Unknown |
These little b*****ds will not give up. I have no loans out and they keep on threading me with legal actions for defaulting. I can't for karma to get these sons of b***** !!!!!! SCAM, SCAM, SCAM, SCAM
| mo 2012-04-17 15:34:54 Debt Collector |
They call me every month for the last 3 months I took a pay day loan, which I payed off the next month with my taxes. The nasty b*****d keeps telling me I missed my payment. I have no payments.
When I call him a scam artist he threatens to send my file to the court. I told him India has no courts and that he is not man enough to come to my house.These scam artists should be hung up by there balls.
When I call him a scam artist he threatens to send my file to the court. I told him India has no courts and that he is not man enough to come to my house.These scam artists should be hung up by there balls.
| izzybit 2012-04-13 01:07:07 Debt Collector |
I defaulted on a loan I paid off years ago. Myself or my attorney must call him back or a warrant for my arrest will be issued. The man has a middle eastern accent. I am not worried, he doesn't have my info.
| anonymous 2012-04-11 19:51:24 Unknown |
This is a version of the you-have-committed-a-crime extortion scam and you are being...
1. summoned/investigated/charged/whatever with fraud/embezzlement/passing_bad_checks/whatever or
2. served with a court_summons/arrest_warrant/bench_warrant/whatever or
3. located in preparation to_be_served/for_a_lawsuit/to_be_arrested/whatever or
4. sued for cable TV usage that you've been stealing for years or
5. whatever stupid crap reasons they will think up next.
And you have to...
1. call back with your case number or
2. confirm your address/birthdate/SSN/whatever so you can be served or your papers processed or
3. pay $895 now to avoid paying $5,000 in court or
4. whatever stupid crap reasons they will think up next.
Beware extortion scams come in many flavors and they constantly evolve to stay one step ahead of the law.
The FBI warns about payday loan extortion scams here http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/paydayloanscam_120710
The BBB has issued several alerts on this scam, just google "bbb.org alert phony debt collector"
Never do what they tell you to do but report them to the Internet Crime Complaint Center http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx , the Federal Communications Commission http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm , the Federal Trade Commission https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ and your state AG http://www.naag.org/current-attorneys-general.php as appropriate.
1. summoned/investigated/charged/whatever with fraud/embezzlement/passing_bad_checks/whatever or
2. served with a court_summons/arrest_warrant/bench_warrant/whatever or
3. located in preparation to_be_served/for_a_lawsuit/to_be_arrested/whatever or
4. sued for cable TV usage that you've been stealing for years or
5. whatever stupid crap reasons they will think up next.
And you have to...
1. call back with your case number or
2. confirm your address/birthdate/SSN/whatever so you can be served or your papers processed or
3. pay $895 now to avoid paying $5,000 in court or
4. whatever stupid crap reasons they will think up next.
Beware extortion scams come in many flavors and they constantly evolve to stay one step ahead of the law.
The FBI warns about payday loan extortion scams here http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/paydayloanscam_120710
The BBB has issued several alerts on this scam, just google "bbb.org alert phony debt collector"
Never do what they tell you to do but report them to the Internet Crime Complaint Center http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx , the Federal Communications Commission http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm , the Federal Trade Commission https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ and your state AG http://www.naag.org/current-attorneys-general.php as appropriate.
| Attorney 2012-04-11 19:43:25 Debt Collector |
They are Bunch of SCAMMS
| Tammy 2012-04-03 18:57:27 Unknown |
Calling and calling and calling, I do not know what loan companies they are talking about is there any law that I can refer to when they call?
| Mark Medeiros 2012-03-29 17:00:03 Unknown |
Getting a phone call from this guy saying it is a legal issue. I want it stopped right now.
| ittybit 2012-03-23 18:29:01 Debt Collector |
I get these calls at least 4 times a month and they say i owe money and they are sending the police to my work and home,,, I have apolice officer that works at my place of business and there is no such thing it is all a scam.... the guy speaks with an india accent and threatens me and Im tired of them calling .But he has an american mname ...go figure... DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION>>> ANY type of lawsuit Has to be given in person.
| Linda Washington 2012-03-22 22:37:55 Debt Collector |
I recieved a phone call from this number saying I owe a balance on a loan,But last year I files bankrupty and the loan was on it.They are rude and they are saying they are from a law office and crime prevention and a india is speaking.I want to report this company.caller type fraud department and debt collector.
| gagirl24 2012-03-20 20:40:55 Debt Collector |
I get a message from this number atleast once a month threatening to send the police to my work for a past due balance for 300 with a company that i in fact have done business with. I called the actual company i had a loan with they said i was in good standing with them and the people calling me are just trying to get my information. Please do not give this number any information and do Like i am doing and report it before they steal your identity. They are very rude and threaten to send police to your work and hom to try to get your information. They claim their company name is Fraud Dept of Pennsylvania and are India speaking.
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