Im sorry but your wrong. You have to send them a written letter in the mail to cease communications, then if they call you, then its illegal. But just simply telling them verbally over the phone does not count. They may continue to legally call until they receive a written cease and desist letter in the mail

Tell them you are recording the call, then tell them to cease and desist. Anytime they call you after that make note and get a copy of your phone bill and keep a copy of the recording. By Law they will owe you $1,500 per incident + additional fees. If thats too much for you todo, send them a letter via certified mail asking them to cease and desist. If they continue to call you after recieving the mail it's $1,500 per incident. Especially if its a cell phone.

TCPA LAW
http://lesterlaw.com/helpful-information/debt ... your-cell-tcpa/

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Debt_Collection_Practices_Act


Know your rights.

Googled this number because I was suspicious. Received a call from Samantha Donald, 855-232-0759 stating she needed my address for legal matter TODAY.  #1 I don't have an unpaid debt. #2 If I did my address, name and phone would have been forwarded from company to debt collector. #3 Am reporting to DO NOT CALL which both my home and cell are registered.

some number 5167770927(my iphone recognizes NY , USA) called me saying they want to issue legal notice and please call 8552320759 address, thats strange , can't trust and worried .?

Received several calls from this #s via various ppl I know and then ultimately they finally left a msg on my actually machine. Claimed to be "investigating me" and demanded a call back today to discuss "serious legal matters" specifically a case that had been "filed against me" and left a "docket #". I did actually try to call this Jon guy back; however he kept hanging up on me. It was weird. So I just stopped calling back. I dont know who they are or what they want but whatever!

yea these people called me, tried saying their a process server,,, but process servers never call first!! anyways i talked to them and paid my loan i had from cashnet. i actually got a settlement and paid less then i originally got! so i actually made money hahaha. these people are just scum bag bill collectors with no life and need to get a real job. they will use illegal scare tatics to get u to pay. but i mean if u r getting these calls and u did take out a loan u didnt pay, might as well try talkin to them. say u want a settlement and pay less then u even got from the loan! but come on people.... if u take out a loan, ur a fool to think ur not gonna have to pay it back! but this was the last time i ever take out a payday loan!!!! horrible idea in the first place

Go away, shill.

Stop being a SHILL.

No you not paying your bill is a scam. That's why the damn economy is the way it is because of people like you. Fess up pay your s*** and move on.

Pay your bill DEBTOR!! Stop whineing and pretending your so innocent

You know if you scum ppl out there paid your bills then maybe you wouldn't be getting phone calls. Think about it if you paid  your bills on time it would stop collection calls stop being a DEBTOR

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

I just had the same call from a Drew Phillips from ACS - they leave lots of information on a phone voice mail and if they were legitimate they would know that what they say is illigel.  I had them try this last year and when I looked up the name ACS I found it was a scam then.

just got a voice message from this guy, claimed his name was drew philips and had a summons signed by nye county Nv courts for a ACS, who ever they are and wanted to serve me paper  and I had 48 hrs to respond. glad I looked this number up.

They call me every couple of months with various numbers but it's the same company and they keep saying they are going to serve me with papers, and one time they called my work to verify employment which my employer refused to do without written notice from them, and they never sent the request nor did they ever serve me with papers.  When I have called them back they get so flustered when I ask for verification of the debt and quote the laws to them about having to validate the debt that they hang up on me.  Apparently they then forget and try calling again.  So lame.

Received a msg on my cell from a gentleman name Chris Robinson stating that a warrant would be sent out to wake county court for fraud checking.. which is bs... Im not only going to call raleigh police and sheriff dept,but also the Attorney General regarding these  workless, insane people making this calls..Trust me they got me once but never again.. Not only was i a victim of identity theft but scam out of $3000 due to panicing calls like this... I wish these people would get a life and leave me the hell alone !!!!!!

the message left was intended to cause PANIC, so the target of this illegal debt collection call would pay the debt without disputing it as is their right to do..  They don't want you to dispute and they will never tell you what the facts are.  they will claim they mailed letters when they never did and refuse to provide any debt validation.  they cannot prove the debt is valid or even owed by the person they are attempting to call.

Hope you kept that message if you know the person - they can use it to SUE collector!

Also have this person check with the local courthouse - they cannot serve you without first filing a case with the courts!  You will find that they never filed a lawsuit!

Received a call from Dean Callaway claiming to be a process server.  Was leaving a message for "someone else" on my message machine leaving this number.  At the end of the the message he said, "You have been served".  Totally against the law!  You can't leave a collection call, claiming to be someone your not on someone other than the person whos debt it is.  I actually know this person who has never resided at this location.   Then, if he was serving a summons which is what he implied, you can't service someone on the answering maching.

I received a call from these people stating to call them before 9:00 PM. The left a voice message on my cell phone and work number. They do not identify their company and claim that there is pending legal charges being filed. I am going to file a complaint with the Attorney General in North Carolina.

Calling me at work - a no-no in  my state