I just got a call from them also.
They were threatning legal action
For something I didn't go. I googled
And it sounds like a scam. Be careful.

I received the same call from these people. Someone who claimed to be Angel Lewis from the Department of Crime Prevention called my cell phone on Friday and left a message. She left threatening messages saying I was under investigation for pay day loan fraud and that I needed to call back immediately to work out a solution. I did not call back and ended getting another phone call from her the same afternoon which I inadvertently picked up. She claimed that I needed to give them credit card information to pay off the $410 debt. I told her that I know of no such debt. I almost fell for it but when I started asking them to prove to me that I owe this debt I became suspicious at her reluctance. She tried to tell me that the burden of proof was not on them and that it was on me. I told her to take me to court and that I will not pay. After I got off the phone with her, I did some investigating and found that this was definitely a scam. She attempted to call me again on Tuesday. It went to voicemail and then she called me several times in a row. I did not pickup. Then I received a call from an old acquaintance saying that these people called her looking for me. She did not give them information either. They made another attempt to call me and I told them that I knew this was a scam and that they have been reported. I reported them to the FBI, Attorney General and the FTC who all confirmed that these were overseas scam artists

Well, I thought this might be the end of it but these guys keep going. They have went as far as calling friends that I have listed as references. They told my friends that I was involved in illegal activity and that they needed to contact me immediately. My friends were smart enough not to give them any information. I went ahead and filed a police report with the Jacksonville Sherrif's department 904-630-2177. I would advise all to do the same. The scammers are probably not from this country but hopefully we can get someone to look into what is going on. This operation appears to be very large. These intimidation tactics are criminal. These scum bags are criminals. Since they are involving my friends and family, I am taking extra steps to protect myself. I have filed the report with the FTC 877-438-4338, the local FBI office and the state attorney general. The Sherriff’s department also recommended that I report this to the Annoyance Call Bureau 800-348-8727, Equifax Fraud Prevention 800-525-6285, TransUnion Fraud Prevention 800-680-7289 and the Social Security Administration fraud unit 800-269-0271.

I recieved the same phone call... they called my job, my family and friends threatning to have me arrested for a debt.  I told them to mail me paperwork showing they are a legitamite business and this is a legitamite debt and they said no after you make payments we mail you papers 30 days later.  I demanded again and they said no so said i'm not paying anything the number comes up as private but they gave me the call back number of 904-222-8300 two time when they called it came up strange as 408-155-73  which isn't a full number??

This guy is calling me too, says his name is a Samuel Bishop.  The phone number that shows up on the caller ID is: 612-820-90323. But the nunber  that he leaves is 904-222-8300. Same thihg Pay day loan. I dont trust him. I have not received anything in the mail from him. I have also told my Supervisor at work about this too and to be careful when I get a phone call at work wanting me to call  them back. she said ok. I have printed out the phone list. 9 pages... WOW!!!!LOL I have also looked it up in  the white pages, the 904-222-8300 comes up in Jacksonville, Fl and the other number 310-598-1661  comes up in Beverly Hills,  That is the Logan Smith. I had received a phone call on the 18th of Sep.

Says he is from Crime Division.  Has a very strong accent.  Can not understand him very well.

I just had a co-worker get a call from the same people but they had a different number. a 612 number, which is like Minneapolis area in Minnesota. So it sounds like they either have a bunch of people everywhere or there probably using other peoples numbers, which is more likely.

why does someone named steve clark from crime prevention leave this ph# as a callback?

508-330-4010

Alex called with all the threats of arrest and court for a payday loan. I had 2 previously that I had trouble paying and thought I missed something so I paid 710.00. I now know I was scammed and don't know what to do.

904-222-8300 is no longer working. They are now calling from 412-360-8420. Same idiots, different Dept. Now its fraud investigation.

I just received the same phone call and I have spent alot of money calling florida since I am in ny.  when I had someone else call they uanswered a diffent company.  I did alot of investagating to find out that this is a fraud.  These people need to be stopped.

I have called and left a msg that we have all got together and they cannot call our references cuz we know they are a scam. We've let our ref. know they are calling and its a hoax! Everyone, block your number and call their bluff. The worst that happens is they tell you to go to hell. I'm not taking their crap!!

I was off of work on Tues. I had nothing else to do, so I blocked my number and kept calling them. I used names such as Drew Barrymore. Annabel Mae, etc. Funny we all had an acct, and owed money. Asked for an address, I'd send a check. No such thing, Wanted credit card number. Finally told them it was me again! Knew their number was out of Jacksonville FL. They finally told me to go to hell. Told them they were there and would be found. Have reported to all authorities. Hope ya'll do the same!! By the way, if ya call they want you to leave a msg. Don't even answer with a company name. How stupid do they think we are?

i recieved a call from this number repeatedly for 30 minutes , the guy on the phone claimed that he was gonna continue to call until i was fired from my job, he said that it was an emergency, and that if i did not respond he would send someone to get me

Well, I thought this might be the end of it but these guys keep going. They have went as far as calling friends that I have listed as references. They told my friends that I was involved in illegal activity and that they needed to contact me immediately. My friends were smart enough not to give them any information. I went ahead and filed a police report with the Jacksonville Sherrif's department 904-630-2177. I would advise all to do the same. The scammers are probably not from this country but hopefully we can get someone to look into what is going on. This operation appears to be very large. These intimidation tactics are criminal. These scum bags are criminals. Since they are involving my friends and family, I am taking extra steps to protect myself. I have filed the report with the FTC 877-438-4338, the local FBI office and the state attorney general. The Sherriff?s department also recommended that I report this to the Annoyance Call Bureau 800-348-8727, Equifax Fraud Prevention 800-525-6285, TransUnion Fraud Prevention 800-680-7289 and the Social Security Administration fraud unit 800-269-0271.

I just received a call from this number 904-222-8300 whos supposedly is the Crime Prevention, saying I took out a payday loan for $200 and that I was facing jail time, and lord knows what else.  They stated that this case would be downloaded into the Miami court house today by 3 pm.  I have never taken out a pay day loan, and I advised of this, they said well if it's under your name and SSN, you're responsible for it, and you will pay the consequences.  Needless to say, it scared the crap out of me.  On a hunch I decided to type the number into google, and came up with this blog.  Therefore, I told him I knew it was a scam and I would call the police, and hung up.  However, although they sound like they are from another country, 904 is a Jacksonville area code, right here in Florida.  Very strange.  All I know is I have never taken out a payday loan.  I also asked them for paperwork and they fed me some B.S. about their rules and regulations.  BEWARE OF THIS SCAM AND DO NOT PAY!!!

Please don't give these guys any of your information! They have been calling me for months from different numbers and have been giving me different numbers to call them back at. I had filed complaints with the FTC and FBI , I advise all others to do the same. Today they did a new thing- when I started asking questions - like their address and company name, they played some BS music- I guess to shut me up for the time being. They called me back later. I told them that the conversation was being recorded and that I would be filing reports (even tho I wasn't recording) . They said okay and that the courts would make trouble for me or something- they are so hard to understand.
Once again- PLEASE DO NOT GIVE THESE GUYS ANY INFO!!

I received the same call from these people. Someone who claimed to be Angel Lewis called my cell phone on Friday and left a message. She left threatening messages saying I was under investigation for pay day loan fraud and that I needed to call back immediately to work out a solution. I did not call back and ended getting another phone call from her the same afternoon which I inadvertently picked up. She claimed that I needed to give them credit card information to pay off the $410 debt. I told her that I know of no such debt. I almost fell for it but when I started asking them to prove to me that I owe this debt I became suspicious at her reluctance. She tried to tell me that the burden of proof was not on them and that it was on me. I told her to take me to court and that I will not pay. After I got off the phone with her, I did some investigating and found that this was definitely a scam. She attempted to call me again on Tuesday. It went to voicemail and then she called me several times in a row. I did not pickup. Then I received a call from an old acquaintance saying that these people called her looking for me. She did not give them information either. They made another attempt to call me and I told them that I knew this was a scam and that they have been reported. I reported them to the FBI, Attorney General and the FTC who all confirmed that these were overseas scam artists. I guess they don?t give Americans much credit but for those not familiar, don?t give them any personal information. These people need to realize that we are going to fight back as much as possible and that we are educated enough not to fall for this BS.

I have called these people and told them they do not even have hold music like Americans do. If you call now, they do have music. I have blocked my number and given different (fake) names. Funny, we all have accts. Asked for paper documents, they said they will be sent out after paid. Told them called local police, FBI, and FTC. Their number comes out of Jacksonville, FL. Everyone, Block your number and call their bluff!!

I got the same call at my office on Friday.  He actually gave me his name and phone number, but when I called back to get the name of the company he would not tell me.  I have reported this to the FBI and they may check it out.  They should to help private citizens when their personal information has been breached.  It would cut down on consumer identity fraud.  It also sounded like there were a bunch of people talking in the background, may be a bigger scam than you think

What did you do to land in jail? It can't be from these scammers. If you could speak English right, it would help. You are one of them trying to scare us. It is not working!!

I ALSO GOT CALLED BY THI SAME NUMBER AND WAS ADVISED THAT THEY ARE FROM DEPARTMENT OF CRIME PREVENTIONS. I ALMOST FALL INTO IT. I GAVE MY DEBIT CARD NUMBER BECAUSE I KNOW I HAVE PAYDAY LOAN BUT NEVER DEFAULT ANYBODY. THEN I FOUND THIS WEBSITE AND READ EVERYTHING THING POSTED HERE. THIS SHOULD STOP. GOOD THING I WAS ABLE TO CALL THE BANK AND REPORT A LOST CARD BEFORE THEY WERE ABLE TO CHARGE IT. THANK YOU ALL FOR THE POSTINGS...

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-661-210-4680

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-714-333-2981

This is just another one of hundreds (and perhaps even thousands) of numbers these overseas payday loan debt collection scammers are calling from:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-9141:

It's a scam, and all their threats are false and illegal.  The bottom line is, these are criminals trying to steal consumers' money.

Here are a few news reports and government advisories warning consumers about this scam:

ABC News:  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1
West Virginia Attorney General:  http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm
WTAE TV4, Pittsburgh:  http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/call4action/17285785/detail.html
Florida Commissioner of Consumer Services:  http://www.800helpfla.com/newsletter/2008/092008.html

This is a very active group of scammers, many of whom are calling from India (and probably other countries) and are in cahoots with a group of American pay day loan scammers. They attempt to extort money from consumers with a myriad of false and illegal threats, and alternately pose as debt collectors, federal and state law enforcement officers, lawyers and bankers. Their trademark is to use meaningless legalese gobbylgook phrases like "We are downloading warrants against you" or "We are filing an affidavit against you." Another trademark phrase is to threaten the consumer with something like this ridiculous phrase: "If you don't pay then only God can help you."

Typical of many financial scams of this variety, they usually demand payment via Western Union or MoneyGram or credit card. They use any number of phony names such as US National Bank, Federal Investigation Bureau, US Legal Investigation Bureau, Christian Nicholas & Associates, US Federal Bank, Sonic Bank, Hopkins Law Office, CashNet, United Legal Processing, Morgan Associates, United Pay Services, National Processing, White Collar Crime Unit and many more.  These criminals also use many phone numbers from many area codes; they're probably using caller-id spoofing software and/or VoIP to disguise their real location.

The main thing to remember is that anytime someone calls you demanding money to prevent your arrest, or demanding your lawyer's name so they can sue you, 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 to them to threaten such a thing.) And since these foreign dirtbags routinely impersonate law enforcement, 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.)

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 (
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. And if the crooks claim to be law enforcement or lawyers, officers of the court or bankers, be sure to include that information in your report.

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://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. (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/1-336-553-3965
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-909-6789
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/1-310-909-8245
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
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-858-244-0444

...and, many, MANY more.


http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-858-248-4818#pqP47Cwar9gApUAjL6vNH3A

At LONG last...these scammers are fimally getting the national attention they so richly deserve:

Full release from the Better Business Bureau:

Widespread Harassment from Phony Debt Collectors Raises Concerns of Mass Data Breach, Warns BBB Scammers may have Social Security and bank account numbers, home addresses and employer information

Chicago, IL ? August 5, 2009 ? The Better Business Bureau is issuing an alert about phony debt collectors that are calling consumers nationwide and claiming that they have defaulted on a payday loan and will be arrested if they don?t pay immediately. Claiming to be lawyers, the scammers say they are with the ?Financial Accountability Association? or the ?Federal Legislation of Unsecured Loans? and are equipped with a disconcerting amount of personal information about their potential victims.

?Because the scammers have so much information about potential victims, the BBB is concerned that this may be the result of a data breach,? said Steve J. Bernas, president & CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and Northern Illinois. ?Thousands of people may have had their personal information compromised, and given the scammers? tactics, it appears that those who have previously used payday loan services could be particularly at risk.?

According to reports received by the BBB and posted online, the scammers accuse the victim of defaulting on a payday loan and claim they are being sued. The phony debt collector threatens that, if the victim doesn?t pay as much as $1,000 immediately via wire or by providing bank account or credit card numbers, he or she will be arrested and extradited to California within the hour to stand trial. The scammers often may have the victim?s Social Security, old bank account numbers or driver?s license numbers as well as home addresses, employer information and even the names of personal friends and professional references.

The BBB offers the following advice to consumers if they receive a suspicious telephone call about an outstanding debt:
* Ask the debt collector to provide official documentation in writing which substantiates the debt.
* Do not provide or confirm any bank account, credit card or other personal information over the phone until you have confirmed the legitimacy of the call.
* Review recent copies of your credit reports to ensure that the alleged debt is not affecting your credit. Consumers can do this for free once every 12 months, and can find more information here: http://www.ftc.gov/freereports
* Under the Federal Trade Commission's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, debt collectors may not harass, oppress, or abuse any person while attempting to collect a debt.
* A debtor may be contacted between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. only and can be contacted at work unless instructed not to.
* File a complaint with the FTC online if the caller is abusive, uses threats or otherwise violates federal telemarketing laws.
* File a complaint with BBB online at www.bbb.org if you believe a debt collector is trying to scam you.

http://www.thinkglink.com/article/2009/08/06/ ... eading-says-bbb

http://800notes.com/articles/News.aspx/UmghNAGYQwANpAjL5OOhYA

Maybe if you were more literate, someone would believe you. But your illiteracy and lack of skill in the English language only makes it obvious you work for these scammers. Loans are a civil matter and no one can be jailed for not paying a loan. And most of these calls are BS anyway.

I recd. a call at work from Alex from Crime Prevention. Threatened to have me arrested and lose my job if I did not call back in 45 min. with partial credit card payment. I recd no money from a payday loan company. He did scare the crap out of me. My boss called the court house and police dept. They both stated it was a scam.

I got the same msg and Im glad that i googled this so i know not to call it back. What do you think we should do about this or who should we call to get to investagate.

It's very funny how I keep receiving the same phone calls from different numbers.  I am getting them on both my work phone and my cell phone.  Every time I log the return number in to google search I come up with these same blogs.  And every time on one of these blogs is a response from someone who clearly can't speak english let alone spell it.  Very familiar to the a***oles who keep calling and very familiar to your post sir.  We know you are a scam and I am taking the advice of my district attorney friend and contacting both the FTC and the FBI along with the attorney general.  I will not be harrassed by you guys anymore especially at work.  You need to keep your scam artists a***s in your country and rip off your own people.  This is freaking rediculous.

i too recvd a call i refuse to pay them..bt thn i landed up in downtown for next thirty days..this means its a truth..ans its nt a scam..so beware nd pay dis guys...they really hav a right to sue uu

This company is calling harassing me saying that they are from the Dept. of Crime Prevention and that I owe money and to pay right then with a debit or credit card only or I will be arrested and facing jail time. This is a scam.