347-347-0124
NY, US
 | Elaine Edwards 2012-08-09 17:42:48 Unknown |
They called to tell me I had a problem with my credit union account...I checked and there is nothing wrong with my accounts....
| K Dunn 2012-08-09 15:43:41 Unknown |
Received call on cell phone saying This is Grow Financial your debit card has been blocked" Automated sound. I hung up
| Karen 2012-08-08 20:46:47 Unknown |
My husband and I both received phone calls from this number and said that our Credit Union debit card had been compromised and that we should call another telephone number. Neither of us had a pen to write down the other number. We do not have a debit card with any credit union.
| COREY SMALLS 2012-08-08 19:25:11 Unknown |
DID THEY LEAVE YOU A NUMBER? IF SO I NEED IT AND I WILL ALSO NEED YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS SO I CAN GIVE YOU MY ATTORNEY INFO. SO YOU CAN JOIN IN ON THIS CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT. PLUS I HAVE A FRIEND THAT WORKS FOR THE FBI AND HE NEEDS SOME CLUES TO FIND OUT WHO OWNS COMPANY.
| anonymous 2012-08-08 18:53:09 Debt Collector |
I just received 2 phone calls back to back from 347-347-0124 telling me that there is a big lawsuit against me due to my social security number. They asked me to give them my social security number so they can verify it. I told them I would not give my number or any information and if there is a law suit against that I would like to subpoenaed in the proper way. I told him when I receive notice of a lawsuit that I would review it with my lawyer and then take it from there. He asked for my lawyers name which I would not give and since I would not give it to him he started yelling at me and said I will see you in court and I told him I can't wait and he hung up. I then proceeded to tell him that I know 347 numbers are cell phone numbers as they are based out of New York and that guaranteed if I called back within a few days the phone would be disconnected.
| Alfalfa 2012-08-08 18:48:18 Unknown |
This is a criminal debt collection extortion scam operating out of India. The FTC is in the process of prosecuting one of their front men who has been funneling money to them:
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
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
| COREY SMALLS 2012-08-08 18:44:54 Debt Collector |
I RECEIVED A CALL FROM THESE PEOPLE TELLING ME I OWE A PAYDAY LOAN. I HAVE NEVER TAKEN OUT A PAYDAY LOAN.BUT I KNOW THEY HAVE GOTTEN A HOLD OF MY SSN AND I AM VERY UPSET.SO WHAT I NEED TO KNOW IS HOW TO GET MORE INFO ON THIS COMPANY. IF ANYBODY HAS ANY INFO ON THIS COMPANY PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME THAT INFO AT hardhitter4life@yahoo.com. I WANT TO FILE A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST THIS COMPANY AND I KNOW WE CAN GET MILLIONS. SO WHOEVER HAS REAL GOOD INFO PLEASE CONTACT ME ASAP. THANKS
| kim 2012-08-07 23:11:33 Unknown |
I just got a call from3473470124asking me too call them with a legal matter
| Stephanie 2012-08-07 18:34:04 Unknown |
I just got these calls both on my cell and work phone. The first "gentleman" said he was calling with "PCS" - Public Credit Services. I fought with him because I know their game. He then put me on with someone who appeared to have a borderline American accent and said he was with PACIFIC Credit Services. He said they were in New York. As soon as I called him out on the two different company names, he hung up on me.
DO NOT BELIEVE THIS PEOPLE!!!
DO NOT BELIEVE THIS PEOPLE!!!
| Debbie 2012-08-07 15:58:42 Debt Collector |
Got the same calls this morning on both my work and cell numbers -- thick Indian accent from "Steven" of the "BCS" or "BCF" legal department, can hardly understand the voice, lots of background noise, it is obviously an Indian call center threatening some kind of "legal action" for what I have no idea. Scam artists.
| james 2012-08-07 09:14:13 Debt Collector |
received phone call on my work number and it is a cell phone telling me there is a law suit very strong accent could barley understand them...told me there was a law suit and i must start paying them back.
| Karen 2012-08-06 15:55:43 Unknown |
I have had two calls,both times they said my debit card had been stolen and press 4 to talk to the security
dept. I hung up and tried to call the number back and its a non working number.
dept. I hung up and tried to call the number back and its a non working number.
| Suzanne 2012-08-06 05:52:52 Unknown |
Received a call at 11:00 pm on a Sunday night. I was asleep and my phone was on silent fortunately. After reading the above posts, at least I know what the call was about. A message was left with an automated American sounding female voice saying "please press 1 now and you will be transferred to our security dept". This so called debt collector, if real, would need to be seriously worried about the fact they called when they did. Last I heard that was outside legal hours to call. Seriously?? These poor people being harrassed and scammed. The only people that need to worry about going to jail are these scammers when the US Government catches up to them, which I have faith they will. Disgusting excuses for human beings these people are!
| Peg 2012-08-05 21:58:09 Unknown |
I received a call from a woman who said my credit card was blocked and I should press -_ number to speak with someone. I suspected a scam and ended the call. and went online to check.
| Jackson 2012-08-05 21:15:23 Unknown |
These people call sometimes with the (347)347-0124 number and at other times using a short version, 347-01. They have a recorded message that says my debit card has been lost..I just hang up and delet the call but I' m wondering how they have obtained my cell phone number.
| Linda 2012-08-05 19:41:52 Unknown |
I've received a call from this number 2 times this week with the same message...automated with the name of the financial institution slurred and unable to understand what they are saying...It's a scam! Don't give any info! Same msg both times I answered..."your check card has been lost" and "stay on the line for an operator to answer". It's obviously a scam, but sadly, someone will be duped!
*SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM*
*SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM**SCAM*SCAM*
| Karen 2012-08-05 18:11:08 Unknown |
YES..we too recieved a call from this # on my husbands work cell phone..& they said they had found our credit card that we had lost...
NO...we hav our cards & YES it's a scam..we just hung up
NO...we hav our cards & YES it's a scam..we just hung up
| Alfalfa 2012-08-05 13:26:51 Unknown |
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
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
| anonymous 2012-08-05 13:23:27 Debt Collector |
Just started calling the other day said they were "from a legal department". They were threatening to get me fired from my job. They were aggressive and threatening me with legal action and threatened to contacting my employer.
| anonymous 2012-08-05 04:08:20 Unknown |
If I had a GF card, I'd call them back using *67 to hide my number, and give them some FAKE GF card numbers like GFGF-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX where GFGF are the real first 4 digits on the GF card (this IDs the institution) and X are random numbers.
| Dave 2012-08-05 01:12:29 Unknown |
Had 3 or 4 calls this week, told me my debit card had been blocked with Grow Financial and wanted the# so they could take the block off. I never have had a card with Grow Financial. I know who Grow is,they are close to me. What if would I would have had a card ???????????????????????????
| Kate 2012-08-05 00:38:51 Unknown |
Told me my debit card was inactivated and asked for my info. Luckily I figured out it was a scam and didn't tell them anything. Then when you try to call back it is invalid. My debit card was fine according to my bank. Scam!
| spartikus 2012-08-04 23:56:56 Unknown |
Just called me too
| kari 2012-08-04 23:37:16 Unknown |
they called and I looked up the number to find this so I did not answer - of course when you try to call the number it is not a working number. FRAUD
| louise 2012-08-04 23:07:12 Unknown |
i have gotten several calls on my home phone and both cell phones from347-347-0124 saying that my debt card has been lost. and it is not.the call sounds automated and a bit broken up.i just hang up.the first time i called my credit union grow financil and got a recording saying to ignore these calls as they are fraudulent and many othrs have been getting them to.as long as you did not give them any info do nothing .
| Michelle 2012-08-04 21:10:20 Unknown |
I got the same call about 20 minutes ago and didn't bother answering it
| Missy 2012-08-04 20:32:20 Unknown |
Today at approx 1:15 pm, I got a call from 347-347-0124, they called my cell phone and said " We regret to inform you that your debit card has been lost. Please stay on the line to give the operator your information..." ...then I hung up...From what I can tell this number is coming out of the New York City area. I think they are phishing for information.
| Fae 2012-08-04 20:25:08 Unknown |
This # just called my cell phone! Ugh! I didn't answer because I never answer numbers I'm not familiar with.
| josephs 2012-08-04 20:06:33 Unknown |
i received a call regarding my credit card asking if i want to active it press 1
| lee 2012-08-04 19:54:13 Unknown |
I too received a call from this # at 2:41 pm today. Definitely scammers.
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