I just got a phone call from this number today, from an "Officer John Wright" claiming I owed money to a former debtor and that I had a choice of either paying the money, or he would have me arrested. Yes, I was worried at first, but my husband soon began to think there was something fishy about this guy, so I googled his name and found out he's a well-known scam artist. Do NOT give this guy any money!

Recieved a call from 917-628-2477 John Foster which is very doubtful on the name, very heavy Indian accent, claiming to be from Law Office telling me a law suit has been filed against me, but i could settle with him , if I didnt settle with him he was going to call my employer and get me fired and have an agent arrest me! Well this bad speaking J**K*ss called my employer and did try an get me fired.
If anyone hash a legit phone # for cash net I wish you would send it to me!

Even i got the call from this number at my home and work today morning. and it is the same story what they say as they are calling from Bureau of Criminal Investigation .as i did apply for payday lone few months back but i dint get any money from them and they got all the information about me. yes they are talking in Hindi language but not sure from india or not but these guys do keep on making call.

Lesly, they called be about 1:30 today est -- same scenario and that's the name of the company he claimed I recieved a cash advance from.  I told him the same thing you said, I can show the District Attorney my bank account that no funds where deposited and he started arguing with me.  I told him he was a scam and he wanted to argue with me that I was a scam and a fraud and that he will see me in court.  I said okay -- I'll see you then and hung up

They are definitely making the rounds.  They called my home and called my job today.  I have two phones at my desk and they called it, got VM, probably hit zero and got our receptionist and she transferred the phone call back to me.  Wanted to verify information --had my old address -- someplace I haven't lived in over a year -wanted to verify my DOB and SS# -- which I did not.  Claimed I took out a cash advance and didn't pay the funds back in 21 days.  I'd like to know which bank account they dropped the funds because it certainly wasn't mine.  Yep, a police officer John Foster (yeah, that's my name too) calling from the Federal Law Enforcement Investigation Bureau -- but he works for the State.  State employee, federal agency -- nope I don't think so.  You can hear in the background that it's a call center running the same scam on the people they called.  I called the New York State Attorney General and advised them of the phone call I recv'd and she gave me the phone number of their Consumer Affairs Department -- 212-639-9675

I guess they think some of us are named Molly Foo-Foo

I got a call from a guy claiming to be an officer out of new York..sounded middle eastern maybe indian....saying I owed a payday loan from cashadvance.. I dont have a loan with that company. Once I told him I would check my bank account to see if that company deposited any funds into my account he argured with me and then put me on hold...what a scam!,

I just got a call from John Wright. He claimed I owed money from USA Cash Advance.  He claimed he was an officer of the state Investigative Department of NY.  I don't owe them any money. I got his info and told him I will do my own investigation.

I got a phone call from this number on 2/23/12.  They claimed that they were with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).  The people who spoke to me had a Middle Eastern Accent, I would describe as Indian.  They said that they were processing a case against me for several criminal charges which involved Violation of Banking Practices, Theft by Deception and what sounded like Internet Fraud.

I ran the first 6 digits of their call back number which showed that the call was coming from Manhatten, NY.  However, the number was showing up on my caller ID as unknown.  They left the call back number in my voice mail.

I contacted my local law enforcement agency about the matter, they have never heard of BCI.  Infact the officer that I spoke with said she believed it was a scam.  She asked me to call them back and get as much information from them as I could.

They told me that I owed them $1,091.00 to settle the matter out of court.  They said that they got the settlement offer approved by the prosecuting attorney.  Once I told them that I live on a fixed income and that i didn't even make nearly that much a month they then offered a settlement of $594.00.  They wanted to settle the matter over the phone.

I then told them that I had contacted Law Enforcement, the person I was speaking to on the phone, who said his name was Officer Joe Brown, said, "thank you, thank you, thank you."  He immediately hung up.  Then a few minutes later he called me back again.  They also said that they have my Social Security number and he proceeded to give me it over the phone.

They said they were going to turn over everything over to my state law enforcement for criminal prosecution.  I told them to go ahead and I hung up on them.  I then called my local law enforcement back and gave the officer all the information I got from "BCI."

Best adivse, if you get a call from this phone number, Call and report it to the FTC as well as your state attorney generals office.  You may also file compaints with New York attorney generals office.  It won't hurt for you to also call Equifax, Experian, or Trans Union Credit bureaus and ask them to place a fraud alert on your credit report.  

Having a fraud alert on your credit report forces any financial institution to contact you in the event that someone tries to open an account in your name.  Some state also have ID protection laws that allow you to place a Freeze on your Credit report.

This person john Wright called saying that I owed 398 due to an advance I had taken out. I have not taken any advances from these ppl. This is a scam. They reported they were police officers and officers with the investigation department.

they called me and told me that my wife was under investigation...lol luckily im a poice officer and when i asked for his credentials he told me to give him a sec so that he can get them......... what police officer doesnt know his badge number by heart?   i called them back and started harrasing them

I received a voice mail as well from a Mr. Baxter and he stated that he was call from New York's State Investigation Dept. He then proceeded to tell me that I had taken out a Payday Loan last year of 300$ and I did not pay the loan back within 21 days so now they have taken a case out against me. He said that there were 3 attorneys listening to the call as well so answer all of his questions clearly and truthfully. I have never taken out a Payday loan a day in my life. This is a huge scam and after he heard that my attorney would be contacting him he hasn't called back since. I hope that the shut this down ASAP.

I received a voice mail from this number and before I could even check it, they were calling my place of employment.  The man on the phone identified himself as Officer Baxter with the State Investigation Department in NY.  He claimed that I owed a substantial debt that I never repaid, so my social security number was under investigation and I would be arrested if I did not make immediate payment arrangements via telephone.  I did not confirm any information for him, other than my address, when I requested he send me something in writing because his English was incomprehensible.  He became rude and aggressive.  He insisted that I provide payment information or federal authorities would come after me.  I continuously requested information from him, which was difficult for him to provide, since he did not understand proper English.  I got enough information to file a complaint with the FTC, so hopefully they can put an end to this scam, as well.  I do not owe any substantial, unpaid debt.  DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM, People!!

http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/contact.shtm

They have shut down one leg of this scam:

Even scam artists are outsourcing. On Tuesday in its first crackdown on fraudulent telemarketing in South Asia, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it was shutting down two California-based companies that used a call center in India to defraud Americans out of more than $5 million over the past two years.

Workers in India made threatening calls to Americans getting them to pay money on debts that they didn't owe, the FTC charges. At an FTC press conference in Chicago on Tuesday, fraud victim JanLaree DeJulius explained that she had received a call from someone claiming to be an enforcement officer from the (phony) "Federal Department of Crime and Prevention," who threatened to have her arrested and have her wages garnished if she didn't pay a bill of more than $730. The scam artists had gotten her name and information from a payday loan her ex-husband had taken out in her name.

"It was very embarrassing," Dejulius said. "He knew everything about me so I agreed to set up an installment." She is not alone. According to the FTC, more than 8 million calls were made since 2010 and at least 17,000 transactions processed across the United States related to the global scam.

On Tuesday under request from the FTC, a U.S. District Court in Chicago stopped the international operation, charging Varang K. Thaker and two companies he owned, American Credit Crunchers, LLC, and an affiliate Ebeeze, LLC, with violating the FTC Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

"This is a brazen operation based on pure fraud, and the FTC is committed to shutting it down," said David Vladeck, director of the FTC's consumer protection bureau. "Consumers should not be pressured into paying debt they don't remember owing. Legitimate debt collectors must provide consumers with both written information about the debt, and instructions for protecting themselves if they don't think they owe the debt."

According to the FTC's charges, Thaker used Social Security numbers and bank account numbers obtained from payday lenders to identify the victims for his scam. He outsourced the work to an Indian call center, where workers made threatening calls to American consumers to pay fake debt or collect on bills for which they were not authorized.

Thaker was not available when contacted by telephone on Tuesday. A woman who claimed to be Thaker's older sister and asked not to be named for privacy reasons said he is working with the FTC to help the Indian government pursue the fraudster call center operators. She also said he was innocent in the scam. "He was being used by somebody. He didn't even know where they got the information," she told The Huffington Post by phone. She said that her brother got 10 percent of the earnings from the scam operation.

The FTC charges against Thaker are the latest in a series of police actions by the government agency to put an end to rogue debt collection operations that have become more frequent in the aftermath of the Great Recession. In January, the FTC struck a $2.5-million settlement with debt-buying company Asset Acceptance, LLC, charging that the company had falsely represented itself to customers, including making up phantom debts that customers no longer owed. Last October, the FTC filed a complaint against seven other fraudulent debt collectors, alleging that they had engaged in the same techniques -- demanding money from customers who owed nothing at all.

The growing number of Americans who are unable to pay their bills has meant there are more companies looking to profit from their economic difficulties.

Debt collectors have been taking more aggressive tactics as fewer people are able to make ends meet or are in a cycle of debt. More than 30 million Americans are in debt collection, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Since 2010, more than 4,000 complaints have been filed with the FTC and state attorneys general about fraudulent debt collection calls, the FTC said.

Charles Junitkka, a personal bankruptcy attorney who represents clients in the New York City area, said, "In the last few years, the desperation of the collectors and their efforts have intensified because of the economy."

This story has been updated to reflect comment from a woman who says she is the sister of Varang Thaker. Thaker himself was unavailable for comment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/ftc- ... _n_1289751.html

These people are calling my phone and work, stating that I took out a loan and never paid it back.   Also Stating that I had criminal charges and would be arrested.  They had my account # and were very rude.  Any info on how to report these guys?

Call from Gary Walton requesting money they have my checking account information, and stating I am going to be arrested for money that I supposedly borrowed. He also called my employer so I am not sure what I should do regarding this matter

This is the second time I have been harrassed by these people.  Not sure how they find me, but it is very hard to get rid of them.

Just receieved a call from a Gary Walton (?).  He left a message that was a case againist me in New York.  I knew there wasn't, so I reported the call to the sheriff.

the person on the other end of the phone is calling my friends saying there is a warrant for my arrest because of some illegal activity I'm involved with and I use there number. when I got the call I was not able to answer the phone so they left me a massage that they were federal investigators and there was a warrant for my arrest.

David Jones from this number keep calling me and demanding money and pretending they are from law enforcement.And if i dont pay them they said they will issue me a warrant of arrest and put me in jail.

im getting calls from this number and people are suggesting they are investigators federal investigators and are demanding money.