My husband and I have received the same calls.  Officer Mike Johnson states he will have my husband arrested if we did not pay $300 and take us to court and we will have to pay $900.  He stated he would cause trouble for my husband at his place of employment.  I will be contacting the local police department myself and open  an investigation on them.

I GOT 5 CALLS 3 VC MAILS ON MY JOB TDY FROM 973 607 2272 MAN WITH THICK ACCENT SAYING HE WAS OFFICER DANNY JOHNSON FROM THE CRIME INVESTIGATION DEPT

I got a call from the 973 number and heavy indian accent with american name threatening me that US govt and the Sherriff  where I live is coming to arrest me at my job  this needs to stop and making it hard for people to pay bills not knowing if you are paying the correct company.

The man call twice in a row : James Jordan telling me that I need to call him NOW or I will be sorry what is going to happen to my life behind bars.
They are Located in Dover NJ and they want money saying that you took our a loan and have not been paying on it. So they are going to take you to jail unless you pay a certain amount of money.
This needs to stop and why do people have to be like this. Number 973-607-2272

a Jimmy Jacob called saying that he was an Investigator  for the State Department he called from 973-607-2272 he called my previous work number and my work cell number. I did NOT answer but he left a message.  What pissy me off is he turned around and called from another # 717-447-4383 but he gave a different name.  When I called back no answer.  This is some kind of scam and they are messing with the right person this time.

no answer at either phone number did not answer all it was an answering machine.

Threatened me that they were calling my work and I would lose my job and be arrested.  Wont let you talk and are very naasty

I just called and got a vm! So for everyone above I stated I was looking for Officer Johnson or Peter Johnson or Steven Lee as they were under investigation as well as their SS#'s for a payday loan they did not pay back. I said they had better call god willing as I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to them! Eat that! I have a learning-disabled spouse and it makes me sick that they spoke to both of us in this callous manner. Scam/scum.

This James Jordan keeps calling me and said it was my s/s number was being used and I needed to pay this other wise I would be arrested. Then the same voice and number called again this time he said his name was Jeff Jordan. This person calls me 5 times a day.

I got a call today from a man named "Officer Mike Johnson"  claiming to be about of the " Office of Investigation threatening that I would be put behind bars and my SSN would be blocked if I or my attorney didn't return his call. Something didn't sound right about this I looked up this telephone number here and learn that this is in fact some kind of fraud. This guys has some sort of "indian accent" too. I will be calling the police and BBB to report this guy!!!

Guy claiming to be Steven Lee told my SIL that she was going to be arrested if she didn't give them $460 immediately. Claimed to be police officer. Fax # 206-338-9415

My husband got a call at his work from this same number today. The man claimed to be a police officer named Jimmie Jackson. What a scam.

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.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 16512428&page=2

I got the same call at work. I contacted the OSBI and asked them if any agent existed. This was on my work phone and I am a US Gov't Employee. What they did amounted to a federal offense. My next call was to the FBI. I filed a report with them and provided them with the phone numbers these guys are using and this webb address which was given to me by my security people. They messed up this time now they are on the FBIs list.

I received several calls from this same person. First of all I don't even have a job right now, so how could I get a "payday" loan. Just spoke with some police officers about a different topic a few days ago, and they ran my name through NCIC and everything, funny how nothing came up! Hmmm you would think if I was under investigation for someting they would have found it, huh. I will be calling tomorrow to see what I can do to file a complaint. Just an FYI due to TCPA laws once you ask or tell them not to call you, they are subject to fines of somewhere in the neighborhood of $10000 to the company and I believe it's like $5000 to the caller. I don't remember the exact dollar amount, but it is pretty high. I will be doing some research tomorrow to get specifics and will post then.

we all need to call all day

This company called me today ...threatening police...arrested...loss of job/employment....all over a loan that was done over the internet.    I called my local police and they said there is nothing they can do...as it would be a civil matter and they would never do an arrest over so etching like this.  

They never provided the name of their company, all men spoken to were of middle eastern decent and I had to ask many times as they tried to transfer me from person to person if I was speaking to the same person as they all seemed to sound the same.

I filed a report against them.

I got a call from this number AT WORK today.  From Allen Parrish Jr. officer when I questioned him and gave no information. He sent me to his SR. officer with the same accent, when I refused to cooperate they sent me the ATTORNEY,, whose name is ANDREW JACKSON. All of these , or quite possibly the same , man had east indian accents.  When I asked them to mail me the investigation reports, the attorney demanded to speak to my supervisor at work to disclose my heinous crimes.
At this point I laughed as I have never been arrested and don't even jay walk.  I told him I thought his call was a scam and I was reporting him to the police.   He got angry and call me an idiot.  I told him okay now I know that it is a scam since you are so unprofessional and I hung up..

Don't be fooled

this guy calls saying his name is officer mike johnson and gets very beligerent when things dont go how he wants them too. says im the main suspect in a criminal investigation and my ssi # is under investigation as well. said if i didnt call by 6pm today on 6-7-2012 i would go to jail guess what im still out..what a jack !$@ he is..

They call me today and told me the same thing about a payday loan so before i did anything i put the number on google and this is the page that i got so i called the local police station and they told me it was a scam i gave them the number and there going to look up into it cause im not the first caller about this.. effing PETER JOHNSON then i call them back an d told them to come arrest me now so i can have the real COPS arrest them for scaming innocent people and they need it to go and get a real effing job instead of stealing from us hard working people and they reply.. THANK U FOR CALLING AND HUNG UP.. DO***E BAGS..

this is crazy because Steven lee is harassing me also...I got something for them wrong person to harrass I called my local police dept & FTC just waiting for him to call back

This number continues to call my cell, my job and my home number. They keep changing their name from Peter Johnson to Jim Parker. They barely speak English and told me that someone will be coming to arrest me in 1 hour since i keep hanging up and will not give them my attorneys number. This has got to stop but I dont know how to get them to quit calling. Ive told them Im going to report them to the police and they said I will be the one arrested. This is all such a scam.

He said my name and ssn# was under investigation for some payday loan and if I didn't pay 1600 I was goin to jail they were gonna come to my house and arrest me!

Agree

I got a call at my work, cell phone and home number.  They called my home and my mother called me and said she could not understand what was happening.,  I went to lunch and forwarded my phones to someone else, when I came back from lunch the person said someone called and they could not make out what they were saying., they called my cell phone number and yelled and demanded to speak to me, and said that he was Officer.? , and it was a legal matter,  his language was foreign.., then he called back to my work and demanded to speak to me, I muzzled my voice and said I was no longer employed with the company and he said you f****ng bi*** you and Kimberly will both be arrested. and hung up.

if we all call on monday all day long  8.30am to 600pm ok

I did the same thing they kept hanging up on me I could hear in the background they was yelling at other callers too.... A damn shame.... Mike Johnson lmao Peter Foster.... lmao

keep call hem back  all the time they get mad number is  1-973-607-2271 and 1-252-296-2944  name is peter johnson  and benjamin  i call then 30 to 60 time a day

These people take turns every month and call and use the same threats. They change their names on a consistent basis and they harass you. I have been a victim of these unsavory characters twice because they hacked into loan information that I did take out on line. Please be mindful of them and do as many of you have stated ask the right questions and see how upset they become. If I would have been more aware the first times I became a victim. I would not be out of over $2000.00 dollars. I actually thought they were legal. I advise anybody not to apply for loans on line because contrary to what they tell you they are not secure. I have learned my lessons but it has been extremely costly for me. Keep hanging up on them. Don't let them intimidate you because that is what they strive on.

called me and left message that my ss# was under investigation and i was in legal trouble....so I called number back.  sounded Middle Eastern, from a Newark NJ number....I kept asking him what city he was calling from, because I already knew, and he got very angry.  Name was Steven Lee....said he was going to proceed with legal action against me, I told him to have fun with that, cuz I haven't done anything but go to work, take care of my kids and pay my bills....who do I report something like this to????

somehow this same number and Steven Lee have the last 4 digits of  my ss# and told me that I was in legal trouble, I've saved the voice mail on my telephone, and when I did call the number back, was all kinds of confusion on the other end.  Huge Scam, who do I report something like this to???