I received a phone call from these people at my job. They left me a voicemail and told me if I didn't get an attorney then they would have to take action against me and then he wished me good luck if I didn't return his call. He received a few choice words when I got ahold of him. Don't give them any information. BEWARE

Same thing! I wonder if we can sue them for extortion and/or harassment? This has gone on with me for almost 2 years!

I have had clients contact me about this number and organization in my  law offices. This is what you should do. Do not be shocked at the information they may have, "that is a scamemrs Job", to convince it is the Truth.

1.  Do not verify any personal information or account information.
2.  Stop paying them immedately and change any account information you have provided or that they may have.
3.  It is legally impossible for them to carry a civil suit and extradite you to wherever.  Jurisdiction for a case is where the contract was entered into. So if you took a loan in Dallas, guess what... they got to sue you in Dallas.  There are legal rules they must follow to come after you, extradition in a Civil case is generally NOT POSSIBLE and is a lie.
4.  Place a security Fraud alert on your SSN immediately.
5.  BY LAW: They MUST give you account info, and the origin of the loan. According to the Fair Debt Collection Act.
6.  Contact the Better Business Burea and your local authorities, and give them the number.
7.  If possible demand their information!!! Then give this info to the Authorities.

Any real collector will verify these things to you by law, in writing. Further, they will tell you where the loan was purchased. Don't be scammed!! Be suspicious, and act in that fashion and obtain as much information as possible, and do not volunteer information. It's your money PROTECT IT!!!

Attorney Campbell.

They are branching out to Colorado.  My call was the same as everyone else.  But Stephen Johnson gave me a case number that was going to be filed in Los Angeles federal court.  When I researched the cases the number wasn't even the correct format. They originally were ready to settle the case and when I said there was no record of the transaction they began telling me they were going to sue me for $30,000.  What a scam, don't give or confirm any of the information they provide.  Be very careful.  The names given to me were Stephen Johnson, Eric Wilson and Mark.  The company name they used was 1st Cash International.

Same thing as everyone else, same old phone calls, I hope nobody falls for this. You know the money collected is going to be used for, well everyone knows what for!!! If anyony can get a PO Box number for a payment I would be glad to send them a surprise!

I already gave them a piece of my mind and then some, I pray that I run in to this person someday in my lifetime so I can beat them to a bloody pulp! If anyone can get maybe a PO Box number from them please forward it to me I'll send them a little something special!
jdjfinc@yahoo.com

Idiot

the above comments were not true ,i paid 7000$ to the court house

I received a call from an unknown number and did not pick up.  I later checked my voicemail and some man with an Indian accent said it was very urgent that I return his call.  I called the number he left, 916.236.4579, and he stated that a case has been filed against me and will be heard in federal court in three days time.  When I started asking questions like how could they expect me to be in court when I never received a subpoena and what the matter was regarding the man became flustered and hung up.  I tried relentlessly to call the number back but was continuously hung up on. Finally a different man picked up the phone and said I would be served, that my case will be heard in the Federal Court of California, and suggested that I find a criminal lawyer.  When I asked which federal court he replied the "Federal Court of California" as if there were only one.  It was then that I realized this couldn't be real.  I continued to question the man on his tactics and lecture him on his violation of my federal rights and he too seemed to become flustered.  He mumbled "oh god," sighed and hung up.  This is the second time I've gotten this type of phone call in a year.

I had a man call me with an Indian accent saying his name was Chris Harrington from the Federal Credit Agency.  He said there was a warrant for my husbands arrest and if I didn't pay him $850 they were going to go down to his job and arrest him.  This man had my bank account info, refrences I used to get a loan over a year ago, my husbands employer info.  This was very scary because for about 2 minutes he had me convinced.  I googled the # and here I am.  Don't give these people anything, I have filled complaints with every local,state and fed agency I can.  These people need to stop.

This is my 2nd report.  This number keeps calling me on my cell #.  He just called me and told me to call him immediately and that is is urgent.  He told me and I quote "May God be with you if you do not handle this matter quickly".  Can you believe this idiot?  Anyhow thanks "Alfalfa" for more information on these crooks.

This scam has been going on for well over a year, now and has been recognized as such by the BBB:

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/Phone.aspx/1-214-618-5897

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 gobblygook 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, Hopkins Law Office, 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.)

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

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) 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, lawyers, officers of the court or bankers, or if they threatened you with arrest, be sure to include that information in your report.

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

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) The caller placed the call under a Texas area code. Even though the caller ID was probably spoofed or they're using VoIP technology to hide the fact that they're really calling from overseas, you should also file a complaint with the Texas Attorney General at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/complain.shtml

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

6) 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.

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
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-858-244-0444
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-954-678-9724
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-610-571-3252
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-310-909-8245

...and, many, MANY more.

I got a message at work when I was at lunch. Chris Harrington told my co-worker that he was from the Legal Department of the Federal Government and that it was an emergency.  This number also called my cell # before I left for lunch.  The caller id said private, but his message said that I needed to call immediately and it was an emergency.  What a crock.  He better not call me anymore or I will give him a piece of my mind.

I just received a call on my cell and work number. I retured the call and immediately realized it was a scam, the guy said his name was Ben Johnson, when you can tell he had an Indian accent, and said a case had been filed against me in California and I live in maryland.. for a pyaday loan that I never got. BEWARE OF THIS SCAM.

I received a voicemail at work that stated myself or my attorney must return the call immediately.  IT IS A SCAM!!! They try to get money out of you and tell you that you may be arrested - even if you owe money it would be a civil suit.

This company is a scam, they will tell you that you need to get a lawyer because a case will be filed against you in your state. They are a rip off. Do not negotiate ant type of payment. Your information was sold to this company and they are somewhere in India in a large call center.

This Is a Scam, be careful...

scam