FAKE DEBT COLLECTOR. This guy identified himself to me as Eric Johnson as well and said he would have me picked up within a half hour.  He claimed to be from the Federal Crimes Division of a secret US agency. I know he got my info and probably yours from any payday loan application.  They give you an old date assuming you will not remember if they actually deposited money. I was online cross-referrencing everything he was telling me. Be very careful.

I HAD THE SAME THING HAPPEN TO ME TODAY ROGER...HE CAME TO MY JOB AND SAID THAT HE WAS A DETECTIVE ERIC JOHNSON AND THAT HE WANTED ME TO CALL HIM..I WASN'T THERE BUT I GOT THE MESSAGE...SO IT IS FAKE? CAUSE I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER WHAT THE HELL THE LOAN WAS OR WHEN. WHEN I DID TALK TO SOMEONE A WHILE BACK HE GAVE ME A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER THAT WASN'T MINE, BUT MY NAME WAS CORRECT...I AM NOT PAYING ANYONE THAT HAS MY WRONG INFORMATION AND THEN I DON'T KNOW WHY THEY WANT TO TALK TO ME

It's a collection agency.

Don't worry it's a bunch of BS I got a call from the same # and they said they were from the Federal Crime Department BLah BLah....I laughed at them and thanked them for giving me their information, and hung up the phone.

I got the same thing.  He left me a voice mail sayign it was from the office of Jeffrey Boyt and that I must call him immediately.  He gave me the same number all of you are posting but on my caller ID it came across as 052439799.  Weird!  I printed this blog and book marking this page, if it happens again, I will call the police and let them know of the scam! So glad I have this information!

I received a phone call at work as well as my home voice mail stating that I needed to call them regarding a legal matter.  They also called my brother asking him to have me call them.  Like the other posts, they will not give me the name of the company that I owe and have stated that they will issue a warrant for my arrest if I don't resolve the matter.  I will be following through on this with the authorities.

I have been getting calls from these people to stating that I have been involved in an illegal matter and will be prosecuted if I do not call them back. Everytime they called it was a different name but same voice. They stopped calling after they called my office and I had told them that the person that they were looking for does not work here anymore. The phone calls stopped and now the phone calls started again. I called them back, didn't leave my name (because they no who you are with caller ID). I told them that I went to my local police department and they will be investigating this matter and they will be contacting the attorney generals office and I suggest you stop calling!!!!!!! And I hung up. It has been 9 hrs now and not a peep out of them. Stay away from them, do not give them any information... ITS A SCAM!!!!!! If you are going to be prosecuted you do not recieve harrasing phone calls. Your local court system or DA's office will contact you by certified mail or in person. THREATEN THEM WITH YOUR LOCAL POLICE DEPT... DO NOT GIVE ANY INFO OUT.

Fake Debt Collectors and Collection Tactics

If consumers did not have enough to worry about having to deal with rising credit card interest rates, late fees and over-limit fees, zombie debt, and fervent bill collectors, now we have to worry about collectors calling about fake debt.

While many legitimate collection agencies follow the FDCPA, there are some collectors out there that are only running a scam operation and will be quick to use threats and scare tactics to get you to pay up quick. Their scams turn up in mailboxes, on the internet and through the telephone every day. Some collectors pose as national banks, government agencies (FBI, CIA), or even popular celebrity stars to gain personal information. These phony collectors may threaten to repossess your house, issue a warrant for your arrest, or even garnish your pay check, all of which are against the FDCPA rules. Some of which are even laughable (for example, there is no debtor?s prison in the United States).

Fake debt scammers rely on the fear and lack of knowledge about debt collection laws within the population. They also figure that a certain percentage of their calls will be received by individuals who may be carrying debt on credit cards anyway and may be susceptible to intimidation. When collectors use misleading statements and fail to provide identification, they are breaking the law. Never pay money to a possible thief. Keep cool when you hear from collectors to avoid this collection abuse.

Many times, people who took out payday loans online in the past are most susceptible. If you took a payday loan, be aware scammers may have access to your Social Security number and other personal information, and keep your guard up against such tactics.

Ironically, real "deadbeats" probably wouldn't fall for these scammers, since they have no intention of repaying their creditors anyway. But upright citizens may doubt themselves, thinking they've forgotten to pay a bill. Many times, the sums involved tend to be fairly small, so some people may be tempted to just pay the "bill" and "get it over with."

Ways to Protect Yourself Against Debt Collection Scams

Review your credit report frequently to find inaccuracies.
Be aware of your current creditors and how much you owe.
Ask creditors for identification before you provide any information over the telephone.
Reporting Fake Debt Collectors

If you ever receive a call from anyone identifying himself as a debt collector, the law requires that the debt collector provide you with identification, and that the debt collector refrain from making misleading and threatening statements.

You can report any problems you have to your state Attorney General?s office www.naag.org and the Federal Trade Commission www.ftc.gov. Many states have their own debt collection laws that are different from the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Your Attorney General?s office can help you determine your rights under your state?s law.

http://www.internetautoguide.com/credit-cente ... on-tactics.html

I received a phone call this morning around 11:15 from someone claiming to be from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. His name is Jeffrey Boyd and he gave me a case file # 0957860 against me and siad I needed to speak with him right away.  He asked for my cell # which unfortunately I gave hime and then he started to verify personal information. From there I asked to call him back.  He was hesitant, stating that it was urgent and would only take 5 or 10 minutes.  I also asked him not to call me at work anymore. The number coming in was 0000123456 or something similar. He asked me to call back at 904-239-3966, I searched the number and found this website.  I have received calls like this before in May, after I did not call them back anymore, they stopped calling.  They were very rude, yelling and demanding money, but not letting me know who I owed the money to.

i got the same calls this morning from a jeffrey moody he had my social but was so rude and kept yelling at me I told him I did not take out a loan as i do not have a bank account or a credit card so how could i even do such an act he kept yelling and interupting telling me i was going to jail and that i needed to write some info down i told him i would not since it was six am and what kind of company was he as he sounded like a call center he than cursed me out and hung up. he called back at nine am but i did not answer.

I HAVE BEEN GETTING THE SAME CALLS FROM A ERIC JOHNSON AND HE HAS A ACCENT AND THEN HE TELLS ME A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER WHICH IS NOT MINE AND THEN HE ASKED ME IF I AM WHO I AM I TOLD HIM YES BUT THAT IS NOT MY SOCIAL. HE KEPT DEMANDING MONEY AND MY BANKING INFORMATION SO THAT HE CAN TAKE THE MONEY OUT, I HUNG UP ON HIM AND HE CALLS RIGHT BACK..AND TELLS ME THAT HE IS GOING TO SEND THE POLICE TO COME AND PICK ME UP..I HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH THIS FOR 3 YEARS AND NOW TODAY HE CAME TO MY JOB..WHICH I WASN'T THERE, AND HE SAID THAT HIS NAME IS A ERIC JOHNSON AND HE WANTED ME TO CALL HIM...I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO...HE SOUNDS CREEPY...AND FOR HIM TO SHOW UP AT MY JOB TODAY IS REALLY CREEPY...I THINK THAT I AM GOING TO CALL THE POLICE

Called my office asked to speak to my boss and told her he was investigating me for check fraud which I had committed on her computers from my work location.  Needless to say I was suspended for three days while she could have an IT person come in to verify.  I am an accountantt for a Real Estate Trust Account.

I have been getting the same calls. Next time they call tell them that you have spoken with the local police and you are going to file a report. They will start leaving you alone. Better yet goto the police and file a report.

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-321-445-4135

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
Caller ID: 321-445-4135
Caller: MANY Aliases
Caller Type: Collection Agency

Called my old place of employment demanding I return the call first said I had a lien that was removed, when I called in he stated I owed the federal dept money for a loan i took from a Al Hecht?? Hmm Said I would get documentation AFTER i give them banking info.. Scariest part was how disgusting and rude the man was and he did have my ssn and dl # that he apparently pulled from online.. Once I fought back he hung up and said an officer would be out to arrest me.. BE WARE of these people, dont give them your info.

I was just contacted by the same person.  It was very disturbing as he had all of my information; ss#, address, my bank, and email address.  When I asked why I hadn't received anything in the mail he said it was because an officer of the court was going to be contacting me directing me to which court would be handling my case.  I do not have any business with Cash America.  Any suggestions how to report these guys?

I was called this morning from an Officer White telling me I owe $500 to Cash America.They had my company name, my address my banking info etc...I was told that if I don't call these people back and pay them I will be arrested tomorrow 8/27/09.. I was warned and then he made a threat. I am very disturb by this. I don't owe any Cash America $500..

I have been recieving cals forever from this number stating that it is a legal matter, and when I ask what the legal matter is a very heavy mideastern accent saying his name is Joseph Woody on time, Robert Smith another time and Kevin Woods another, same person though he even says i have called and spoke to you before demanding that I give him my banking information to pay some kind of damages in a law suit.  Every time I ask a question though I never get an answer just demansds for my banking information which I then state that I will not release and hang up the phone.