855-254-5947
 | LJ 2012-06-28 20:31:02 Debt Collector |
COMPLETE SCAM!!!!! They buy info on old debt and try to strong arm you into paying it. They threaten to come to your job or home to serve legal papers. Mine was a 7 year old debt (no longer actionable) from FASTBucks in Portland OR which I paid 4 years ago and kept all my payment records. I told them that even if I had not paid the debt they had no legal resource because it was past the statue of limitations. They got more aggressive and I told them any legitimate collection agency MUST send you confirmation of the debt by mail and to PLEASE come over and serve papers on me.
I also called my local district court and asked if there was a suit filed against me. NOPE!!!!
I called FASTBUCKS corporate office. They are NOT using these people and are going to go sick their legal department on USC.
Two things:
1. Get online and report these people to your Attorney General's office...very quick and easy online.
2. If you pay any old debt...KEEP ALL RECORDS FOREVER.
Don't let these bottom feeding scumbags intimidate you!
I also called my local district court and asked if there was a suit filed against me. NOPE!!!!
I called FASTBUCKS corporate office. They are NOT using these people and are going to go sick their legal department on USC.
Two things:
1. Get online and report these people to your Attorney General's office...very quick and easy online.
2. If you pay any old debt...KEEP ALL RECORDS FOREVER.
Don't let these bottom feeding scumbags intimidate you!
| LJ 2012-06-27 21:11:44 Debt Collector |
Received 3 calls from from these guys. Left messages threatening to come to my job or home to serve me papers on a debt. I have no outstanding debt so I called my local district court to see if any papers were filed against me. NOPE! When I called they say I owe a debt from 2005 to a payday loan and they were going to sue me for it. I asked if they were aware of the statue of limitations on debt. Woman got aggressive and said they were going to serve me at my job. I told her to go ahead and sue me, I'll be waiting. Their calling themselves USC but won't give out any other info. SCAM SCAM SCAM!
| NB 2012-06-22 04:17:39 Debt Collector |
I know unemployment is high and we all need jobs but this is a lousy way to make money...harrasing innocent people. This is the second time they have messed with me and I guarentee you it will be the last because I can not wait to call and harress them in the morning. The fact that they talk about coming to my house is disturbing. I just left a message and told them "I got 357 reasons why you might not want to do that and I mean...and you can call my local police department and let them listen to this message." I am not scared, I am not giving them any money and I wish they would come to my home or my job to serve me some papers as they threatened to do because in the words of my dearly departed grandmother: there will be some a** kicking going on around here. #enough
| Alfalfa 2012-06-11 18:22:31 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
| Casey K 2012-06-11 18:20:44 Debt Collector |
I am an Army wife and my husband is currently deployed, I recived a call for the number (855) 254-5947. They called me this morning and said my husband took out a loan in 2008 for $1,120 and that we would have to pay the loan back to them before we would be sued. The same place called at the end of April saying again, my husband took out a loan from Wells Forgo in 2008, but for $500 and if we would not pay it back we would be sued, which we never have. They had lots of information about my family like, my 11 year old sons prepaid cellphone number, my grandmothers homephone number, and even the last 4 digits of my husbands social security number. They kep't calling my sons phone, my phone, and my grandmothers phone CONSTANTLY! A couple days later I called Wells Fargo and asked if my husband had taken out a loan at that time, and they had said that he didn't and that call sounds like a scam, and I have research the information I had gotten from them and LOTS of people had the same things happen to them. I am going to report this to the police dept. THESE ARE SCAM ARTISTS!
| Aaron B 2012-05-25 21:23:42 Debt Collector |
Got an 'unknown' call and left a message about a complaint, subpoena, etc and told me to call 855-254-5947....the automated answer is "Thank you for calling UCA"....I then spoke to someone and they told me that I was going to be taken to court over a $200 payday loan from 2004! Loanpoint.com is who they referenced which first of all I never took a payday loan from, second they wouldn't give me any information about the debt, just that there was proof the money was placed into my old bank account from 8 years ago...I eventually told them you're going to have to show me some proof of this debt before I pay anything then i hung up.....but i was frustrated and did some research and found that they had long past the statute of limitations in my state for taking any legal action, and I decided to call back....spoke to someone different who was apparently aware i called before but now I asked for the name and description of the company who i was calling, and all she said that "this isn't a collection agency this is paper processing"....i asked again for proof of the debt and she said "you've already been sent proof, you know you took this loan out" i said no i don't to both and mentioned the statute of limitations which really got her irritated, i asked her if they aren't a collection agency and i want to pay the debt back then who do i contact? and then she says "oh i can transfer you to legal and you can make your payment there"....if they aren't a collection agency then what are they doing taking debt payments....the conversation ended with her saying "see you in court" and i said "with bells on"......i've already reported this number to the state Attorney General.
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