I got the same phone call from a different number, he identified himself as federal investigator Justin walker...also Indian or Asian accent...I think Indian . When I called back, he said to call Monday, no one was in. then he proceeded to come on to me! clearly a scam! was very scary and creepy tho, said I was under investigation and I better call back or was subject to trial by jury, of course sounded ridiculous as I am just an artist - teacher and have never done anything criminal

Just got a call from an 'Officer David Jackson' looking for an employee of mine saying it was an urgent legal matter and gave me the number 949-800-7690. Our line kept getting broken up. I decided to Google first before I told my employee's boss and now I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell her. This is the first of this call I have received.

Same guy has been calling me. He then attempted to call me as a police officer in my hometown i live. I am getting really pissed! Also told me that i owed cash advance when I never borrowed money from them.

Just received a call from this guy. went to my local station and the officer told me it was a scam!!!!!!!

Yes an Officer William Johnson called me at my job today as well same number, accent and story as the ones posted here. What can be done, I refuse to be harrassed or let them to continue with their actions. This is totally insane!

I got a similar call today from this same number with the same scenario as below. I should file charges!

I had a very threating message from the same officer today?very scarey knows where i work, knows my
soc.# address!! called him back he gave me the whole reason for his call?all these people are out to arrest me..i told him that his telephone number is flagged as a telemarkter and he has a lot of complaints..
He just kept saying that it wasn't correct and to have my lawyer call him..i told him i have a friend that
works for the police dept. and he'll call him..he just wouldn't stop so hung up on him..
I hope someone stops this person he has to much information about me i'am affraid of this and what legal action i can take against this person...

telling me he is office something and telling me he is going to keep calling my job to get me fired and that he is coming to arrest me i cussed him back out and repeatly kept calling him back so he said finally that he would call me at night after work hours to wake me up lol i get up at 3am anyway so bring it on yes he is a bill collector though i am not sure where from but of another background besides american thats fo rsure

I received the same call from this number. He left a message. Again a very strong accent claiming to be Officer William Johnson. He said the same thing on my message as he said to everyone else. I had the same situation last year and had also googled that number. When he called back I let him have it. I told him he was the one that needed an attorney. I said how dare you call and threaten me ! I was angry and firm and frustrated him so much he ended up hanging up on me. Made me laugh.. Went and entered all my info on the  DO NOT CALL LIST.(you can google this, they will give you the number to call) No calls for over a year. I am going now to the DO NOT CALL LIST to see if that works again. Good Luck all !

This number called starting earlier this yr. tried to arrange payments til he said he will only except a money order this is a scam called better business to track the number and they agreed. I did a o
Loan with skyline and I believe that's where they received my info.

These people call me daily and threaten me and try to get money from me.

A William Johnson called and mentioned 3 federal charges against me and threatened me with legal action.  My belief is somehow this gut hacked into a financial computer system and got hold of peoples personal information.

It pertained to a measly $300 loan I took out.  However the financial institution arranged for payments every other week.  This William Johnson clown accuses me of acquiring the loan fraudulently and wants to settle out of court for $496.

They already swindled me out of this amount a month ago. I fell for it.  Now their trying it again.

Received a call from this number and a man with a very strong foreign accent asked for me.  I asked who he was and he said he was officer William Johnson with US Investigation office.  He then asked for me again but I told him no and he asked why not.  I hung up at him at that point and he immediately tried to call back, I declined the call but he didn't leave a message.  Definitely a scam!

Received a spoof call from this numbe. It is spoofed because when you call back the number states that it is disconnected.

They called my work and I told him not to call. I hate that they are allowed to do this! How do I stop them?

US Crime And Prevention ATTN : XXXXXXXX




US Financial Crime Department usfinancialcrimedepartment@usa.com



Oct 17 (1 day ago)

This is notify Ms. XXXXXXXX that, this is a final notification given to you. If you want to take care of this matter call us back on our no 949-800-7690. Due to any reason if you fail to resolve this issue then very soon all the legal investigation will start against you at your doorsteps and as well as at your place of employment.

Contact your attorney and be ready to face this issue inside the court, because if you fail to ressolve this matter, you will spoil your credit rankings.



See The attachment below




REGARDS

JUSTIN WALKER


US Crime And Prevention ATTN :XXXXXXXXXX
     


His Name was ;

OFFICER WILLIAM JOHNSON
BADGE # 32823

from the UNITED STATES INVESTAGATION DEPT.  CALIF. HEADQUARTERS

same message as everyone on this site...949-800-7690 from William Johnson..I told him he is a scammer and impersonating an officer with the FBI is a felony; I am calling the police to arrest him....he couldn't believe it and hung up......this guy is a scammer...I also told him there is no way his name is William Johnson.

I received this call today. Saying EXACTLY the same script as stated above from the other callers. We had this happen once before about 3 yrs and actually got the State Troopers involved. Of course they couldnt do anything but after contacting these people the troopers stated its a scam and they are trying to get your information.

I also received this same threatening call today from William Johnson from this same phone number.  He had my last 4 numbers of my social security code.  He also left the message on my work number.  I have received a couple similar messages in them past.  He must be reading from a script.

calls constantly threatening jail, law suits, police coming to my home etc i am on the no call list and this is clearly harassment how do i stop this.

Same thing -- very strong foreign account -- calling and gave Officer William Johnson with US Investigation Dept in regard to serious legal case filed under my name and last 4 SSN for fraudulent legal action in Hamilton County, TN.  If I fail to call back I should call attorney b/c filing is today.  "God only can help you from this mess."

Also rec'd call from 319-242-7350 which others have noted is a Verizon collector -- have rec'd calls on a Verizon debt in the past and have had to take legal action through an attorney.  Unsure if they are related.

The calls are coming from a criminal extorion ring in India, where they are using VOIP to "spoof" the numbers to make it appear they are originating from within the US. ABC News did an investigative report on this back in June. One of their ringleaders has just been indicted on criminal fraud charges by the FTC:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 16512428&page=1

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fraud-charges-f ... ory?id=17069702

ep, this same fool calls me every now and then. Now he's an officer. He left a message telling me that he would advice me to get an attorney and that if I do not call him back he "Wish me the best of luck" He used name "William Johnson". However, accent is Mideastern. Each time he calls he uses a different name.

Yep, this same fool calls me every now and then. Now he's an officer. He left a message telling me that he would advice me to get an attorney and that if I do not call him back he "Wish me the best of luck" He used name "William Johnson". However, accent is Mideastern. Each time he calls he uses a different name.

This guy is a scammer, he left the name William Johnson with me.  He sounds like ANYTHING but a Johnson.  Does anyone know how you can get these guys to stop calling?  I've tried ignoring them, I've tried yelling...nothing works.  Suggestions please?

Call from officer Michael Johnson said I was in serious trouble. I got scanned once and never again.

Phantom Debt Collectors From India Harass Americans, Demand Money

By BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) , CINDY GALLI and MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk)
June 7, 2012

Hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped Americans have been targeted by abusive debt collectors operating out of overseas call centers suspected of links to organized crime in India, law enforcement officials told ABC News.

The calls are part of a massive scam, one that appears to target struggling Americans -- especially those who have gone online to apply for payday loans. Armed with personal information from those pilfered applications, the threatening callers, who claim to be debt collectors poised to initiate legal action, have managed to pry loose millions of dollars from their victims -- even when the victims never owed money in the first place.

"This is what we call a phantom debt collection scam," said Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. "It's a very pernicious and innovative new fraud."

Working through call centers in India, the commission estimates that the criminals have dialed at least 2.5 million calls, persuading already cash-strapped victims to send them more than $5 million. Some have reported receiving dozens of calls per hour. They are victims like Cindy Gervais, of New Orleans, who went online for a quick loan when her husband's car was hit by a driver who didn't have insurance.

Even though she paid the loan off, the so-called "phantom" debt collectors with Indian accents began calling to say she still owed money.

He more or less told me that if I didn't pay, they were going to have someone on my doorstep to arrest me," she told ABC News. "And that they were going to contact my place of business, and tell them what kind of person I am."

At first, she said she resisted. Then the calls became more frequent, and started to ring on her cell phone, and at the grocery distribution company where she had worked for 27 years.

"I was more or less was in panic mode because he told me there would be someone before noon at my place of business to arrest me and take me to jail," she said tearfully. "So I agreed to pay him."

After receiving scores of complaints, investigators with the FTC said they began tracking the calls, and following the payments. They alleged the payments led them to a California company run by an Indian-American named Kirit Patel, and that such scams would not be possible without American front men.

"I would say that all roads of this scam, or many of the roads of this scam, lead back to Mr. Patel," said the FTC's Leibowitz.

ABC News tracked Patel for weeks, from the suburbs of San Francisco to Austin, Texas.

Patel refused to talk. But his lawyer, Mark Ellis, said he believes it is far too early to pass judgment on his client. Ellis, a Sacramento-based attorney, told ABC News that Patel was hired for a nominal fee to set up an American shell company, and had no idea what the call centers in India were doing.

"I can tell you, he was as snookered by the people in India as anybody," Ellis said. "He's a 69-year-old man who is nearing his retirement who thought all he had to do was set up some corporations and everything was on the up and up. He's completely dismayed that he has become the lightning rod of this entire problem."

A close friend of Patel's also defended him in a brief interview at his home, saying Patel was not trying to defraud anyone -- he was just an unwitting, bit player in a larger scheme.

"If Mr. Patel was just a cog in the wheel he seems to have been a pretty big cog," Leibowitz said. "It is clear that Patel was integrally involved with this scam."

Leibowitz points to thousands of pages of financial and phone records gathered by the FTC and filed as part of a civil case brought against him in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento last month. When FTC lawyers sought to freeze his assets and prevent his business from continuing to operate, Patel responded by invoking his rights against self-incrimination. His lawyer told ABC News he has had to be careful in how he responds to the allegations in civil court "because there is a potential criminal action," but that Patel maintains the allegations against him are false.

Federal investigators said the phantom debt collection operation that allegedly benefitted from Patel's assistance was one of several that all trace back to the same small town in Western India called Ahmedabad. Callers use technology to make it appear that the calls originate inside the U.S. Victims provided ABC News with recordings of dozens of the calls, and many of the thickly accented callers appear to be reading off a script.

"Subpoenas have been readied, and Monday morning you're going to be picked up from your home," one caller says on a victim's voicemail. "And you have children. Don't worry about your children. We have a childcare department to take care of the children."

"You will be behind bars for six months," said another caller. "And once you go behind bars, you will lose your job. Once you are behind the bars, you won't get a single drop of water."

William Peerce Howard, a Tampa attorney who represents victims of harassment from debt collectors, said it takes an especially twisted criminal to use threats and coercion to pry money from someone who is already struggling financially

"These guys really are the most visible villains in America today," he said. "They make a living scaring people."

Mark Merola, of Florida, said he just panicked when the caller told him he might be arrested at the deli where he works in a Florida retirement community.

"I was nervous. I didn't want to embarrass myself, my family," he said. He used his debit card to pay the collector $576.

Afterwards, he says he realized "how stupid I was."

"It just happened so fast," he said. "I got scared."

Leibowitz said he hopes with more attention, future potential targets of the scam will recognize red flags before they turn over any money.

If callers say they are from the police, consumers should know that law enforcement officers do not collect debt for private parties. If the caller is speaking with a thick Indian accent, but calls themselves by a names such as Officer Mike Johnson, that should be a tip off. And if they're calling 40 times in two hours, that's another red flag. "Legitimate debt collectors, legitimate pay day lenders don't do those sorts of things," he said.

Merola said he would like to see anyone involved in the scam prosecuted aggressively.

"There's no place in society for these people," he said.Call Type: Debt Collector

officer justin walker US Investigation Dept. (indian Accent) 949-800-7690 left meavoicemail saying that God only can help you out this mess...then when i called the number back the fool started cursing me out... called my local police dept to press charges for harrassment.

Every few months this people call me and harass me, first they said that they were with the sheriff dept, now their saying that they are with US Investigation dept, they sound like they are from the middle east but they give American names, they tell me that Im in trouble and that they are going to come and arrest me, everytime they say their going to come to my job and serve me with court papers, I keep telling them to do it, it's been a year now since these people started calling me and I haven't got served any papers yet? I wish they leave me alone.

This happen to me as well.  and he's calling my job.  This is not the first time this has happen.  He called months ago as well and I ask him not to call my job.  Guess what I received another call this week.  I get so sick and tired to scammers.  Also, what out for ACS in your email as well.