It was a lady speaking in Spanish talking about some helping hispanics organization. She demanded to know how i was doing today. I laughed and hung up.
She's obviously an immigrant, I feel bad for her knowing this is her job. Oh well

This number called me and asked me if I spoke spanish, I said no and this weird music started playing in the backgound. I then hung up.

Called in two times and left a message in my phone -it was just background music or noise- Nothing said.

Immigrant? are you a native indian?? lol

My wife got a call from this number and they spoke in spanish something about helping the spanish community, when my wise said she was not intrested they called her crazy. the number was 559-718-8683

It was a spanish speaking radio station doing a survay on what stations do you listen to and what kind of music.  No problem

It was a spanish radio station taking apoll on what station and what kind of music do you listen to

They hang up because you say "HELLO", if you said "BUENO" they know you speak Spanish. Stupid calls.

i receive the same call and like everyone else it was in spanish..... so i answered in spanish...... the put me on hold and the music came on for 2 seconds and got disconnected.
I am reporting this number........

we recieved a call from a no caller I.D, second from this number m,aking threats and indicating they were from the ZETAS - the mexican criminal organization. They demanded money or else they would kidnap money. For 2 nights the sherrif patrol and the FBI are involved hopefully they can find something and kick their A** in the other hand iif they come near our property all they have to do is jump our fence our alarm will wake me up and they'll be sorry they did.

To all people specially Hispanics, be aware and report these calls to your local sherrif or police and if needed call the local FBI agency, they are taking this seriously, Speacially with whats going on in Mexico.

For at least the last four years, possibly longer, a group has been calling former payday loan applicants advising them that they have defrauded a bank and are now being sued for non-payment of a loan.  The callers will claim to be calling on behalf of an attorney's office (name varies), the Dept. of Law and Investigation, ACS, or other similar combinations below:

United Legal Processing Division
Midline Marketing
Crime Monitoring Services
Monetary Crime Division
U.S. National Bank
Attorney General?s Office (usually in California)
American Legal Services
Affidavit Consolidation Services (ACS)

You will be threatened with arrest, a costly trial and possibly worse.  In no shape, way or form can you be arrested for non-payment on a consumer debt.  Do not believe these threats, as they are without merit and cannot be carried out in the manner they allege.  

Who are they?

In the past when pressed by law enforcement for an address, the callers have provided the following information:

David Morgan and Associates
Morgan & Associates
Morgan Associates
954-727-8481
1155 Northwest 85th Street
Wintergarden, Florida  33150
(Address is likely invalid)

The collector's MO matches a once legit collections agency called Ellis Crosby & Associates.  Here are some links on them:

http://www.budhibbs.com/collectorpages/ellis_crosby_and_associates.htm
http://www.budhibbs.com/collectorpages/EllisCrosbyJudgment.pdf

They have been previously fined over $1.3 million for various violations.  They have been known to use phone banks in India to make their calls, which more or less coincides with the difficult to understand accent many of us detect when we are contacted.  

The last time this group went by any "official" name was back in 2008:

Ellis Crosby & Associates / Douglas & Morgan Associates
4494 Southside Boulevard Suite #200
Jacksonville Florida 32216
Phone:  800-928-3536 / (904) 928-3536
(Address is likely invalid)

There are NUMEROUS consumer alerts out against this group of individuals:

Florida:
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061107/met_176207561.shtml

Kansas:  
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/01/ks_debt_collection.html

Colorado:  
http://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/press/ ... lls_likely_orig

Rhode Island:  
http://www.collectionscreditrisk.com/news/rho ... -3002135-1.html

West Virginia:
http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm

Missouri:
On July 15th, 2010 a Public Awareness Bulletin was sent out by Missouri Information Analysis Center.  

"..received reports from individuals in Ohio and Illinois reference suspicious telephone calls they received. In both instances, the callers are reporting that a voicemail is received from a man, with a Middle Eastern accent, identifying himself as an officer working with the Financial Crimes Unit.  The message indicates that the reason for the call concerns a loan made by the receiver or someone in the receiver's family. The voicemail requests that a return call be made and a telephone number is provided. When a return call is made, the caller is asked to provide personal identifying information such as their date of birth and social security number.

Reports indicate that the calls are frequent and persistent and that they even threaten arrest or legal action if information or money is not provided. It appears that the individuals making these calls may have access to some records connecting individuals and their relatives.  Missouri does not have a Financial Crimes Unit and all indications are that this is a fictitious agency. If you receive a similar phone call, please be advised that it is a scam and please contact your local law enforcement agency or the Missouri Information Analysis Center at 866-362-6422."

Bottom line:

Do not supply the callers with any additional information.  Inform them you have reported them to law enforcement and hang up.  If you haven't already, go ahead and report the calls to local law enforcement, your state's Attorney General and beyond.  Look up the local Secret Service branch's information in your area and get in contact with an agent there.  

If you ever applied for a cash advance online, your information is out there.  
Possible sources for the breach of your privacy are:

* The scammers obtained your information from Teletrack - a reporting agency used by many cash advance lenders to determine their risk lending to you.  The service is able to tell cash advance lenders if you have existing loans with other companies, for example.  Many state laws prohibit borrowers from having more than two cash advances out at the same time.

* The scammers created their own fake payday loan application site.  People looking for a cash advance went to the site and applied, thus freely providing the scammers with their information for malicious use at a later time.  

* The scammers were able to get into the database(s) of cash advance lenders - probable targets being Sonic Payday and Cashnet USA.  


How to protect yourself:

* Inform your employer.  You are likely getting calls at home and/or at work, so make sure your employer is aware the calls are part of a scam and to not take them seriously.  Advise the callers that they are no longer allowed to call you at work.  If they continue to call, document the date and time of the calls you received.  Save voice mails left if at all possible.  

* Change your number(s).  For some this may not be an option, for others a one-time number change can be done free of charge.

Be advised - any references you listed on your payday loan application will be contacted.  Let those people know that this is a scam, and they can disregard.

* Use Google Voice.  Google Voice is a great replacement voice mail system for just about any phone number you use.  Messages can be transcribed and voice mail recordings can be saved as mp3 files.  

Pro Tip - call the scammers with a Google Voice number before turning off your old phone numbers.  Make sure when you call you identify yourself so they can start up their script.  At any point after they have your information pulled up just hang up.  They will then start religiously calling your Google Voice number.  At this point, you are free to change your regular phone number(s) and enjoy not having these people ever call you again.  (And laugh at the fact these people are basically talking to a brick wall several times a day)

The scammers change their numbers frequently.  Law enforcement used to think it was because the callers ran out of minutes on their prepaid wireless accounts or they were shuttered due to fraud, but now they understand it's simply to evade detection by savvy consumers online.  With the proliferation of VoIP, it's even easier for the crooks to stay a couple of steps ahead of law enforcement.  Below is just a sampling of the 30+ numbers that have been used in recent memory.

1-201-244-7722
1-209-349-7382
1-209-797-2212
1-212-500-0839
1-213-256-0408
1-213-995-3039
1-281-763-0433
1-347-289-3902
1-347-844-6817
1-347-844-6831
1-424-354-4270
1-516-232-8905
1-516-232-8935
1-518-212-0219
1-561-300-8018
1-561-210-4185
1-626-200-4646
1-631-456-4041
1-646-274-1143
1-646-810-8635
1-650-241-4604
1-707-401-4056
1-707-633-2789
1-708-401-0535
1-716-442-2824
1-717-862-4080
1-718-705-8669
1-760-514-0132
1-760-563-5384
1-772-318-4938
1-850-201-1111
1-858-777-1977
1-859-908-2281
1-866-860-4509
1-877-226-7488
1-888-706-7463
1-888-771-9249
1-888-785-4479
1-909-327-4870

So can they really do anything to you?

It's not a simple yes or no answer.  Logic dictates that, if they really wanted to take you for a ride and drain your bank accounts, they already would have.  

So, why haven't they?  

Authorization.  

Why do you think you are being called so much?  Perhaps it is because they like the sound of your voice?  No, they have to have your authorization to take any form of payment from you, period.  The callers know their audience, and that audience is typically a bunch of people that have applied for payday loans in the past.  Most of those people they call couldn't afford an attorney if they wanted one, and are so used to receiving collections calls that so long as they sound like a real collector, they will likely be perceived as one.

Furthermore, they don't even really want to talk to your attorney - that just sounds official and scary enough.  A real attorney would take the callers to task and write them off as two-bit con artists.  The callers need you, in writing, to authorize payment against the fictitious debt they claim you owe.  Go ahead, ask them for proof you owe the debt - more commonly known as verification of debt.  See what they say.  A phone authorization carries very little weight, so if they have something signed by you on file, you are done for - and the callers know that.  That authorization is the only thing these callers are doing by the book, and for good reason.  If they just went all willy nilly and made an ACH debit from your checking account, without your written approval, you could in turn report the transaction as fraudulent to your financial institution.  In about 7-10 business days, you would get the funds returned to your account.  Then the scammers would be up against a bank and their team of lawyers and investigators.  

Bottom line:

If you haven't paid the callers a dime, don't.  If you planned on paying them to shut them up, just don't.  Remember - you are not being contacted by a legally licensed, ethically owned and operated collector.  Read up on the FDCPA - http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf - and know your rights.

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-646-274-1143/3

mine was from 559 823 5337...........you need to file an identity theft report with your local police department.
they know where you bank, your social (at least they knew mine), cell phone, too much information.
then they left a message on my phone that if I or my attorney didn't call them back, then they prayed to God for my good luck for what could befall me.    i thought that was a violation of the RICO act (extortion).  

oh well.

Called me while I was at work, I answered because sometimes my doctors call me from weird numbers. They asked if I spoke spanish and I said no. "You speak english?" "Yeah" "What is your name?" "Why? Who is this?" "Do you speak english?" You have the wrong number." and I hung up, and then they called me back right after I hung up and I let it go to voicemail. They didn't leave a message. I really hate things like this. Whats the point? I'm in New York if that helps any.

Interesting what I am reading. I speak Spanish but still they never answer the phone when I answer, no matter if I say Hello or Bueno or whatever. If they are trying to scam people, shame on them. I want to report them!

The URL to YouMail is http://www.youmail.com block all unwanted calls its free...

get a serves caled youmail its free
add the nomber 559-718-8683 to the blocklist it will bump the call for you.

I get phone calls from this number on a daily basis like clock work.....i too live in minnesota.  I have called the number and it goes to it saying that it is no longer in service.  tonight there was someone in the background speaking spanish and hung up.  Any time that I have picked up the phone to answer they hang up.  They do not leave messages or say that there are sorry....this is getting a little irritating and want it to go away!!!!

I had 2 missed calls from this number and I returned the phone call back and it stated that the number was no longer in service then I searched and found your website.

This is a telemarketing co. harassing hispanics and bullying them into buying some English course.
People are being threatened with illegal threats such as jail time, getting fired from work, harassing friends and/or family. If you have any information as to who they are, report them.

I received  a phone call from this number. The person who called spoke in spanish and said it is calling from UPS and that my wife has a package and that a money order needs to be sent to Corporacion de ayuda al hispano. When I decided to investigate this corporacion I dialed 18778471647 which is the number of the supposed corporacion, the guy who I spoke with got upset because I said my wife is not sending any money and the guy was like he is going to report the case to the legal department of the "corporacio'. 10 minutes later I received a call supposedly from the legal department offering me help to solve the problem, which problem? I said and I decided to hang up after not receiving information i asked for. This person said he is an attorney, independent one, no license provided, hispanic and not being able to keep a rational conversation I hanged up. Later I called the number 18774839138 i researched it was linked to the corporacion and oh surprise, the guy who answered the phone call was the supposed attorney. I demanded information and this guy did not provide any. This is a fraud team that try to intimidate hispanics who are afraid of reporting them. I am going to start a denounce to stop those scamers that are taking advantage of hispanics who are easy to deceive.

my bf just recieved a call from this number and all they spoke was spanish and wanted to know were he worked and what he did and they kept asking questions so he hung up but they never said what they were calling for or what they wanted besides the questions they asked

I recieve a call from this number BUT the strangers thing happened becuase my wife recieved the call from the SAME number at the same time that I did

Called mulitple times, left no message. Finally just added them to my blocked numbers list on Verizon.

I have gotten several calls from this number, but I don"t answer who I don't know the number, besides this my phone for only my wife to call, nobody else has this number. I always google the number just to see who it is or to see if there is postings like this....next time we should all answer...Good morning Border Patrol, we will have you back in your country before noon..thank you for calling...lol. Or Good morning INS, thank you for calling, it saves us from waking up the neighborhood with our bull horn to tell you your surrounded....lol.

i dont who it cld b but this number pops up in my phone every 2 hrs n wen i try to answer they hang up..

Your name

Same as everyone else.  This number has called me more than once.  Yesterday I heard loud music in the background but no one spoke and then they hung up after a minute of me saying nothing.  Today I wasn't around to get the call.  I have free call block.  That should take care of it.

I just got a call from this number and they only spoke spanish.  Who would this be?  The person asked if I spoke Spanish to which I replied that "No, I am American and I speak English!"  The individual hung up.  I, too, am sick and tired of these people calling me as they hang up on you. My phone number is private and has been registered on the "do not call list" .  When you call back, the call goes directly to a voicemail where they told you the number is "not in service".   Everyone that is receiving this call, needs to take an additional couple of minutes and report the number and what they are doing to the FTC for harassment.

yea its like so 1 trying 2 make you pay 4 something atless 4 what i can understand because theres a loud music in the background

I am sick and tired of these people calling several times a day and just waiting for you to said more than two words before they hang up on you. My phone number is private and has been also registered on the "do not call list" . I don't know what is the purpose of them doing this. If you call back they don't answer and the call goes directed to a voicemail where they told you the number is "not in service". Can someone do something about it please?