What did they want?? I ignored that.

877-627-0413 is definitely the Bass Prelitigation/StatesPredisposition/White Collar/SpellmanRoman scam.

Here's the link to complaints about these crooks associated with that phone number:  http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-877-627-0413

Also, the Florida Attorney General has already shutdown one of their scam businesses (Ellis Crosby & Associates ) and has filed suit against another of their scams (Bass Prelitigation).  Here are press releases from the Florida Attorney General regarding this scam:

http://myfloridalegal.com/__852562220065EE67. ... ighlight=0,bass
http://myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsrel ... 5257424005858A6

And here's a news article about these scammers: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/120107/met_221875639.shtml

The main thing to remember is that anytime someone calls you demanding money to prevent your arrest, it is ALWAYS a scam. No debt collector or attorney (let alone criminals posing as law enforcement, debt collectors and attorneys) have the authority to have anyone arrested for anything. (And it's illegal to them to threaten such a thing; it's also illegal for them to make any false threat, such as suing you when they no intention or authority to sue you.) And since these dirtbags routinely impersonate law enforcement (which is also illegal), it's also important to remember that American law enforcement officers aren't in the business of debt collection.  (Debt is a civil, not a criminal, matter.)  And rest assured that any threat that there will be a "disturbance" at your home or that you'll be arrested in front of your family is false and highly illegal.

The bottom line is, these are criminals trying to steal your money with extortive threats.

If you have been targeted by these crooks, be sure to report them to all the following agencies:

1) File a complaint with your local police or sheriff. Most police departments will take a report over the phone.  Be sure to tell them that you're being targeted by an extortionist and give them all the details.  (This is especially important if these scammers threatened you with arrest or "a disturbance" at your home.)

2) File a complaint with the Florida Attorney General at http://myfloridalegal.com/contact.nsf/contact?Open&Section=Attorney_General  (As the press releases above indicate, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is very aggressive in pursuing such debt collection scammers.)

3) Alert the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  Be sure to tell the FBI that you are being targeted by extortionists over the phone with a myriad of illegal threats. Be sure to give as many details as you can.

4) The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for protecting the country's financial infrastructure and payment systems from international and domestic threats. Call or write your local Secret Service field office to alert them to the details of this attempted extortion. The addresses and phone numbers for the local Secret Service field offices are listed at http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml or in your phone book.

5) File a complaint your state's attorney general, the contact information for whom is at www.naag.org

6) File a complaint online with The Federal Trade Commission at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en

If these crooks call back, promise them nothing, pay them nothing and tell them nothing other than that you know they're a scam and that you've reported them to law enforcement. (Report them to all the agencies above each time they call you. Be sure to save any voice mail messages and, if legal in your state to do so, record all their calls.)

For more information on protecting yourself from debt collection scammers, check out these websites:

http://www.naca.net/debt-collection-abuse/
http://www.fairdebtlawyers.com/
http://www.myfairdebt.com/
http://attorneysforconsumers.com/
http://www.westcoastlitigation.com/
http://www.theadvocateslaw.com/
http://www.consumercounselgroup.com/
http://www.budhibbs.com/First.htm
http://www.creditlawnetwork.com/

Finally, here is a small sampling of 800Notes complaints about States Predisposition, SpellmanRoman, United Legal Processing, US National Bank,  Morgan Associates, etc:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-210-858-6601
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-210-858-6602
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-0922
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-1402
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-0943
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-723-5572
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-305-433-8368
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-310-499-9983
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-310-499-9984
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-310-909-8245
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-321-221-0018
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-404-000-3849
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-404-000-4321
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-408-404-1520
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-408-404-3021
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-410-505-8128
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-480-365-0155
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-610-571-3252
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-678-954-0520
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-678-954-6346
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-678-954-9000
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-800-918-3844
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-800-918-3849
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-818-688-7218
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-856-831-0640
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-856-831-0640
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-326-3139
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-341-4004
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-441-4001
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-593-3003
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-688-3848
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-724-4111
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-775-2121
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-236-5141
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-901-328-7180
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2857
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2863
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-917-464-2534
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-925-262-1327
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-272-3902
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1140
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1156
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-954-678-9724

________________________

"How is a sincere criminal going to get ahead in his profession if his victim fails to cooperate?  Almost all crime depends on the acquiescence of the victim.  If the victim refuses his assigned role, the criminal is placed at a disadvantage." -- Robert A. Heinlein, 1985

Unfortunatly, I was one who fell for Patricia Hill's convincing lie.  I paid
$995.00 I was in New York with family when I recieved the call.  I was so scared and didnt know what to do. I paid them to get rid of them. I was going to get arrested and be humiliated in front of my family. I was supposed to receive paperwork finalizing my payment and never did.  The phone calls stopped and now four months later they have started again. This time the number is 877-627-0413 and her name is Alexa Callaway. She said I am wanted for questioning.  Thank you all for this information.  I am going to give the information to my local police and get rid of them forever.

ABC News just did an investigative piece on this particular scam operation. Here's the report:  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1

It's a scam. Ignore their false (and illegal) threats and report them to federal and state law enforcement. See my message below from June 8 for details.

I got a call from a Tiffany from this number and she said she was with Taylor Chase's office. I didn't call back.  Don't know what this is about. Can anyone help me?

Update:

A consumer posting a complaint about these same scammers at http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157 notes that 718-831-7157 is associated with an India-based "outsourcing" telephone bank.  Though a reverse search on WhitePages.com shows that 718-831-7157 is an unlisted land line in New York City, information on Debtbuyers.Com shows that that number is used by India-based Intellisourze. (Source: http://www.debtbuyers.com/debtbuyers.asp ) My guess is that it's a VoIP phone number.

This is another piece of the puzzle that fits in perfectly with other information about this scam. There are some reports on 800Notes that have suggested that the crooks behind this offshore scam are also the crooks behind the notorious Bass/Ellis Crosby & Assoc./States Predisposition scams in Florida and Georgia. The interesting thing is that the number of complaints on here about the US National Bank/US Legal Investigation/Federal Investigation scam skyrocketed *after* April 7, 2008 when Florida obtained a $1.3 million judgment against Ted Ellis Crosby, shutdown his operations and barred him from ever conducting debt collections in Florida (Read http://myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsrel ... 5257424005858A6 ) There's certainly a good chance that the crooks placing these calls from India are doing so on behalf of the American crooks behind the Crosby/Bass/States Predisposition scams.

Here's the contact information for the phone bank in India:

IntellisOurzE BPO
701, Sapphier, Nr. Cargo Motors,
C.G. Road Navrangpura,
Ahmedabad - 9. (Guj.) INDIA.
E-Mail: info@intellisourze.com
Website: www.intellisourze.com

A check on the domain name "intellisourze.com" shows that the website and name registration was created on May 8, just one month *after* the Crosby scams were shut down in Florida:

Domain Name: INTELLISOURZE.COM
Registrant:  Pragra Infratech Pvt. Limited.
Email:  ankur.ranpariya@pragra.com    
908, Aksaht Tower, Nr. ICICI Bank
Opp. Rajpath Club, S.G. Highway
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India 380054
Tel. +91.7926871353
Creation Date: 08-May-2008
Expiration Date: 08-May-2009
Domain servers in listed order: ns5.znetindia.com ns4.znetindia.com
(Source: http://whois.domaintools.com/intellisourze.com )

Though scam calls from these crooks have been going on long before May 8, the frequency of complaints about these calls increased considerably after Crosby was shut down in early April.

This is conjecture, but appearances suggest that Crosby and company were originally running a two-pronged payday loan scam operation -- with some calls being made from Jacksonville, Florida and other calls being made from a phone bank in India (and possibly other countries); then, after the Florida Attorney General shut down the Crosby scams in Florida, the Crosby crooks transferred most of their scam efforts to the India phone bank.

If you are targeted by these criminals, be sure to report them to all the following federal and state law enforcement agencies (most of which you can do online or over the phone):

1) The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for protecting the country's financial infrastructure and payment systems from international and domestic threats. Call or write your local Secret Service field office to alert them to the details of this attempted extortion. The addresses and phone numbers for the local Secret Service field offices are listed at http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml or in your phone book.

2) Alert the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  Be sure to tell the FBI that you are being targeted by extortionists over the phone who are posing as federal law enforcement. Be sure to give as many details as you can.

3) File a complaint with your local police. Most police departments will take a report over the phone.  Be sure to tell them that you're being targeted by an extortionist and give them all the details.

4) File a complaint your state's attorney general, the contact information for whom is at www.naag.org

5) File a complaint online with The Federal Trade Commission at https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

If these crooks call back, promise them nothing, pay them nothing and tell them nothing other than that you know they're a scam and that you've reported them to law enforcement. (And be sure to report them to all the agencies above each time they call you.)

By the way, here's just a small sample of numbers used by this particular group of scammers. Read the reports and you'll see the same pattern time and again -- phony organization names, thick foreign accents, and oddly worded threats that are so melodramatic and ridiculous that it's laughable:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-925-262-1327
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-678-954-6346
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-341-4004
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-856-831-0640
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1140
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-410-505-8128
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-917-464-2534
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-210-858-6602
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-775-2121
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1156
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-1402
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-0922
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-723-5572
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2863
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2857

By the way, here's the Florida Attorney General's news release announcing the judgment against Ted Ellis Crosby:

http://myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsrel ... 5257424005858A6
>>Office of the Attorney General of Florida
April 7, 2008
Media Contact: Sandi Copes
Phone: (850) 245-0150

Attorney General Obtains $1.3 Million Judgment Against Jacksonville Debt Collector

~ Court awards significant damages from 2005 lawsuit ~

TALLAHASSEE, FL ? Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a Jacksonville resident and his debt collection agency have been ordered to pay $1.3 million in restitution and civil penalties for violations of Florida and Federal collections laws. Ted Ellis Crosby, individually and in his capacity as owner and director of Ellis Crosby & Associates, was found to have engaged in willful violations of Florida?s Deceptive and Unfair Business Practices Act and Florida?s Consumer Collections Practices Act. The case was litigated by the Attorney General?s Economic Crimes division.

?This case should put similar operations on notice that the penalties for such deceptive business practices can be very costly,? said Attorney General McCollum. ?Florida authorities will not tolerate unscrupulous individuals who victimize our citizens in potentially difficult financial situations.?

The Attorney General?s lawsuit, filed in June August 2005, alleged that Crosby and his company used deceptive practices in an attempt to scare, harass and intimidate debtors into paying amounts far in excess of their debts. Testimony from victims and witnesses revealed that Crosby and company used tactics such as posing as law enforcement officers, threatening seizure of property, and even threatening bodily harm. More than 380 victims filed complaints with the Attorney General?s office.

Duval Circuit Court Judge L. Haldane Taylor ordered Crosby and his company to pay $388,000 in consumer restitution, $700,000 in fines for violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Business Practices Act, and $253,000 in fees and costs, totaling more than $1.3 million. The Judge also entered a permanent injunction which prohibits Crosby and his company from engaging in any activity within the State of Florida which is related in any way to the ownership, processing, administration or collection of consumer debts.

More information about protecting yourself from improper debt collection tactics is available online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/main/7cd1 ... d6!OpenDocument.

A copy of the judgment against Crosby is available online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KGR ... sbyJudgment.pdf. <<

These crooks alternately pose as debt collectors, federal and state law enforcement officers, lawyers and bankers. They use any number of phony official-sounding names such as US National Bank, US Legal Investigation Bureau, Hopkins Law Office, Morgan Associates, White Collar Crime Unit, Department of Crime Prevention, etc.  And, as Alfalfa's message above indicates, consumer credit advocate Bud Hibbs believes this particular scam is just another Ted Ellis Crosby operation. (Previous Crosby scams include Ellis Crosby & Associates, Bass Prelitigation, States Predisposition Services, to name a few.) The Florida Attorney General recently obtained both a $1.3 million judgment against Crosby and a permanent court order forbidding him from ever engaging in debt collections in Florida.

Though there have been many 800Notes reports about the US National Bank/White Collar/Affadavit Process scam before Crosby was shut down in Florida, the number of complaints about it skyrocketed *after* Florida shut down Crosby. An interesting coincidence that suggests that this could be another Crosby scam but with a twist: considering the scammers' thick accents and very clumsy English, the calls probably originate offshore.

If your attorney wants to look into this, he or she may want to contact the Economic Crimes Division of the Florida Attorney General's office -- http://myfloridalegal.com/contact -- to get whatever information they have on Crosby.

One thing for everyone to remember is that anytime someone calls you demanding money to prevent your arrest, it is ALWAYS a scam. No debt collector (let alone criminals posing as debt collectors) has the authority to have anyone arrested for anything. (And it's illegal for them to threaten such a thing.) And since these dirtbags routinely impersonate law enforcement, it's also important to remember that American law enforcement officers aren't in the business of debt collection.  What's more, debt is a civil, not a criminal, matter.

The bottom line is, these are criminals trying to steal your money. I suggest you do all the following (most of which you can do online):

1) The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for protecting the country's financial infrastructure and payment systems from international and domestic threats. Call or write your local Secret Service field office to alert them to the details of this attempted extortion. The addresses and phone numbers for the local Secret Service field offices are listed at http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml or in your phone book.

2) Alert the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  Be sure to tell the FBI that you are being targeted by extortionists over the phone and give them all the details.

3) File a complaint with your local police. Most police departments will take a report over the phone.  Be sure to tell them that you're being targeted by an extortionist and give them all the details.

4) File a complaint your state's attorney general, the contact information for whom is at www.naag.org

5) File a complaint online with The Federal Trade Commission at https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

If these crooks call back, promise them nothing, pay them nothing and tell them nothing other than that you know they're a scam and that you've reported them to law enforcement. (And be sure to report them to all the agencies above each time they call you.)

By the way, here's just a few 800Notes links with reports about similar scams. Read the reports and you'll see the same pattern time and again -- phony official-sounding organization names, foreign accents (most of the time), and dramatic false threats of arrest and lawsuits.

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-925-262-1327
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-678-954-6346
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-341-4004
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-856-831-0640
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1140
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-410-505-8128
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-917-464-2534
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-210-858-6602
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-775-2121
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1156
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-1402
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-0922
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-723-5572

Thank you so much for the great info..I have been contacted by a Patricia Hill as goes by Patricia Keen several times by this number going under the business name Affadvait Processing and Financial Crimes Investigation.  I was scared and paid her $700 out of the apparent $1500 that I owed.  She has threatened me at my job, calling the operator and receptionist at my workplace telling that I have been involved in a crime and they were going to arrest me.  I have several threatening vm saved from this woman.  She is out of control and it has gotten in the place of my work.  I contacted a consumer lawyer, but because there is no adrress for this person/company we cannot proceed with court.  Do you have an address??  Also, can I get my money back???  Thank you for your help.

Hi Michael,
how did you get your money back?  I paid them $700 come to find out its a scam.  

Thanks!

Thanks for the information.  They almost had me for $600.00.  My debit card would not make the tranaction.  I was blessed.  So this business is in Florida.  The lady told me that she was in Nebraska....  What's so funny and I told her that she sounded like all the others that I spoke with.  Thanks for sharing this information.  This has eased my mind.....

This is a CRIMINAL operation!

Debt collector ordered to pay $1.3M in restitution, fines

The owner of a Jacksonville debt collection agency has been ordered to pay $1.3 million in restitution and civil penalties for violating state and federal collection laws.

Ted Ellis Crosby, the owner of Ellis Crosby & Associates, was ordered by Duval Circuit Court Judge L. Haldane Taylor to pay $388,000 in restitution to consumers, $700,000 in fines and $253,000 in fees and costs. Taylor also entered a permanent injunction against Crosby and his company that prohibits them from any debt collection activity in Florida.

The case was litigated by the Florida Attorney General's Economic Crimes division. More than 380 victims filed complaints with the Attorney General's Office, charging that Ellis and his company posed as police, threatened to seize property and threatened violence.

"This case should put similar operations on notice that the penalties for deceptive business practices can be very costly," said Attorney General Bill McCollum.

http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonvi ... /07/daily8.html

Sam, the alias (one of many) that they operate under is "White Collar":

State Predisposition Office of GA
1-800-918-3844
See Here for Details
fka/Bass & Associates
(phony name)
dba/Ellis Crosby & Associates
may be calling under the name
White Collar
9378 Arlington Expwy., #323
Jacksonville, FL 32225

Phone: (877)-281-2220
Fax: (904) 598-0207
 
Web Address: None!
Email: tcrosby@elliscrosby.com
Head Debt Collectors:

Ted Ellis Crosby, 29, ?BANKRUPT!!
Aka/ DEADBEAT TED!

CONSUMER ALERT:

FLORIDA?S SLIMEST DEBT COLLECTOR IS STILL ALIVE!

They are scamming on payday loans, do NOT fall for their lies!

Bud Says:

(TED) ELLIS CROSBY & ASSOCIATES HAVE FILED FOR CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY IN FLORIDA - NO.3:05-BK-15194-GLP.

CLICK HERE FOR BANKRUPTCY INFO

BANKRUPT, DEADBEAT DEBT COLLECTOR TED ELLIS CROSBY is again in trouble with the law. Florida?s MOST notorious debt collector who filed bankruptcy multiple times, been sued by everyone except Santa Claus is still out there with his lies, stealing and extorting money from innocent consumers.

Crosby and partners have earned the title of the MOST disgusting, sleazy, criminal debt collectors that the State of Florida has ever known. DEADBEAT TED is destined for a jail cell in the Florida pen for all his criminal behavior and may be there sooner than he thinks.

DEADBEAT TED has fleeced money on unbelievable claims from threatening arrest and seizure of property to posing as law enforcement and court personnel. His activities are being watched closely by law enforcement and especially the Florida Attorney General?s Office who may be the arm of the law that finally puts him away, where he belongs.

DEADBEAT TED IS A MENACE TO AMERICAN SOCIETY!

He is a thief, a liar, a con man, and DEADBEAT!

You would NOT believe how many debt collectors he has stiffed, DEADBEAT TED does NOT pay his bills, and he has screwed a LOT of people out of money.

DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY TO DEADBEAT TED;   HE CAN NOT SPEND IT IN PRISON!

HE CANNOT SUE YOU, FILE LEGAL ACTIONS, REPORT TO THE CREDIT BUREAUS, HE IS A LIAR AND A CON MAN DOES NOT FALL FOR HIS SCAM!

IF YOU ARE CONTACTED BY BASS & ASSOCIATES FOR DEADBEAT TED, GET IN TOUCH WITH US.

WE WILL OFFER YOU ASSISTANCE IN DEALING WITH THIS SCUM. TAPE ALL THEIR CALLS, THE FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU:

http://myfloridalegal.com/consumer

http://www.budhibbs.com/debtcollectorpages/ellis_crosby_and_associates.htm

These are desperate desperados of the WORST kind! Contact your local law enforcement, the FBI and the FTC if you are contacted by them and maybe they can be shut down nationwide.

I got the same call from these people at that number 1-888-593-3003.  I spoke with Sharon Noland, Melissa Swan, Debbie.  They told me that I needed to pay my bill or I will go to jail.  I've looked them up on the internet, BBB, etc.  I also called the FBI and they said it was scam.  What's so funny about it they needed $600.00 from me so I will not go to jail and that is what I got back from the Government.   If anyone has any informaition on them please e-mail them to me    tnvols4u@embarqmail.com

I got a similar call and the company was White Callers Investigation Unit or that's what she called herself. I spoke with a Sharon and a Brook. Threatening jail on a paid debt.

can anybody tell me what is the company name for this number, i know it is a collection agency but they got mad because i would not send them money and i sent my payments to the original creditor.  they supposedly bought my account, but if you do not disclose your company do you really think i would give them money