Got a call from this number.

Get this I called the above number just to see what would happen and now I get this recording that says "Welcome to MagicJack" it tells me to co on some web site and that this is not a working number.

These calls are past annoying.  on Wed I got three calls back to back 7:02pm, 7:03pm, 7:04pm. "John White" left a voice mail message each time.Than on fri 5:22pm, 5:25pm 5:26pm.  He again left a voice mail message each time.    at 5:30pm They called my job.  Since everyone at work knows of this the person who answerd the phone just said I was not there. Then I got 2 call 5:35pm and 5:37pm but the caller ID said restriced.  My voice mail box was full so he could not leave a message.  Its now monday and I wonder how many times he will call today.  I downloaded all of this guys voice mail messages to my computer so I could save them if needed.

Well the calls started up again.  Now I get calls from John White and he connects me to someone named Eric.  This guy has no accent at all.  They calim to be from a Company called the federal Legistlation of Unsecured Loans.  Still refuse to send my any thing in writting.  They said they have a case against me in court already.  There are other numbers that these people are calling from stating the same thing.

I cant understand something.  I still keep getting calls from this number but I cant call them back because I keep getting a recording saying the number is dosconnected.  How can this be.

This is just to let you know that the number 850 388 8958 has been diconnected.  I know thses people will pop up somewhere else under a different name and different number.

Once again I am getting calls. My work, my home. One at 2:45 am and at 6:45 am. I ask for verification. Never get it. I may change phone numbers just to get it to stop! I don't want to continue with this crap! I am called by a Eric Mathews (pronounced Ma-they-ews) . A heavy Indian accent. No other identification.

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

Laurie:  I do not know what state you are in.  I have been getting calls from these people sine sept 8th I have kept a call log of every call they have made to me.  In the past week they have called me everyday (except sunday) any where from 3 up to 7 or eight times a day.  They have threatened to contact my place of business and finally did today,  That was my breaking point.  I contacted my state's atty general's office.  I was given 2 numbers to call to get info.  First the Division of Consumer Service and then the (state) office financial regulation and licenceing.  I was told that these people asr frauds and Scammers, I alredy knew this.  They told me these people are in India.  I was told not to let these people get to me.  Tell them if they want any money then they ned to come to (your State) and file a complaint in your court.  I have been asking them to send me information.  They alway say the will but never do.  I have no intention of sending these people any money.  I contacted The Federal Trade Comminsion and reported them.  Dont be surprised if a few weeks down the line you get a call from another company stating the same thing.  I have been contacted by 4 different companies all stating the same thing.  Make sur you contact your bank and make them aware of this.  I have a fraud alert on my account.

I to have received a call from 850-388-8958 threatening me telling me I have violated federal banking laws , bank fraud and something else basically I have informed them that I am not afraid of them and to go right ahead and contact whoever they want and to send me whatever documents they have which I am suppose to be served with papers tomorrow morning I have went thru this before with these people they kept telling me that I was going to be served with papers to go to court this was a few months ago and I have yet to receive any papers they are even telling me that I obtained the money in nov 2009 on an account that wasnt even opened until 2010 so please do not send them any money contact all the federal and local agencies

I have started to recieve calls from this number.  The caller states he needs to discuss a legal matter about a debt and treatened to call my place of employment.  It is the third company that has called me on a debt that I do not owe.  The other 2 numbers are 713-343-7242 Federal Crime Enforcement Caller Andrew Parker.  and 424-203-5206 Federal Department of Investigation caller Nick White or Nicholas Gibson.  The caller from this number said his name is John Smith, then cleared his throat and said his name is John White.  He connected me through to his "Legal Depatrment" and this person's name was Gary Smith.  Gary said I owed money on a payday advance.  When I asked him to send me written documantation of what I owe, how much and to who, he said it would be in my e-mail with in 10 minutes.  Its been over 24 hours and still nothing.  I told this caller that it was against the law to contact my place of employment and he said he still would because I put it on my application.  I repoteted this to the FTC as well as the other two numbers.  My agent told me that an on-line cash advance company was hacked into and people were being called to say thet owe this money but they dont owe.  The one thing that really got me is this:  If anyone has ever tried to call a REAL company to clear up a debt thewy get a recording saying "This is a debt collector and any information will be used to collect this dept"  If I call back any of these numbers I do not get any recording of this kind at all.  Nd another thing, If you do call them back they answer the phone "Hello can I help you."  Call any company any who ever answers the phone says the name of the company and their name.  If you are checking out this number because you got a call, PLEASE DO NOT send them any money.  And report it to the FTC.  877-382-4357.