270-605-5143

These people from India are calling me at my place of employment stating that I have to pay them $600. TODAY or the police will be at my place of employment.   I askede them to send me via my email informatoin concerning the debt.  they refused to do that and just wouldnt give me a chance to say a word.

I have been getting theses calls for a few days now and about a week ago it was a different number but the same person.

Same guy called me... phone line was very distorted, so all i could hear was law suit against me and that it will cost me 425 if i paid right now to stop the legal filing... Right before i almost paid him, cuz i was scared, i came to my senses and starting asking more questions about the lawsuit. He was unable to provide anything and just kept talking non sense to sort of scare me... then after 40 minutes trying to get more info, he got tired of me asking questions and hung up... BE WARE!!!! Do not pay anyone until you are certain that you do owe the funds and paying the right person

How in the crap did they get my BANK INFO from TX when I live in KY now?? They just called me on my husband's phone.. told me i owed a total of like $3000 but if i paid them $650 they would drop the lawsuit.. I asked him to tell me what it was for and he couldn't tell me the company OR the right amount (because i do have a loan out just not thru them) so i kind of let him have a big earful and my husband let him hear what he thought as well....not the best way to go about things I know but yeah. Don't listen to these idiots.. make sure you're actually owing money!!

By the way.. my caller's name was Albert Johnston

I received a call from these people on Friday could barely understand them, hung up they called me back and said that I was sent to them due to fraud quoted my SS# and everything said that I stole from some company and that "I was going to be taken to JAIL if I didn't pay them" I blocked them out and Monday morning they are now calling my good government job harrassing me and telling my supervisor that I committed fraud. I've just gotten off the phone w/Investigation for government agencies and they are all over it! These SCAM people are the WORST!  caller's name is Jerry

they keep callin my phone all hours of day and night i havent answered cos i dont answer numbers i do not know but it wont stop

I too got one of these calls...two actually, one to my job and one to my cell. After looking up this number online and seeing all your helpful comments, I decided to give them a taste of their own medicine and harrass them back. So I called back and got a voice mail, and left one for the caller, Brendan Thomas, also clearly Indian. Then I called again and this time the guy answered. I told him they called me and he asked me for my number. I said "which one?" since they called both my cell and my job. Then I asked him the company name and his name. He said he was Steven Andrews and by now figured out from his caller ID what my name was. I told him he was all over the internet with people talking about this scan and how they try to bully people into giving them money. He said it was my choice and when I asked him to mail me information he stuttered and I told him this is what I expected based on other people's experiences all over the country. As he mumbled, I kept saying "what? I can't hear you!" and then told him I would call the police on him. I haven't been bothered since.

Thanks, people for coming forward. It helped me to see this scam for what it is and not be afraid that I owe these people money

got a call 2day @ my job---my coworker asked me if i knew this person named CLIFFORD NELSON......have no idea who he is or what he wants!!!!!! 2706055143. dont no anyone calling from this number.

Yes, I had fun with them as well.  I told them that I alerted the police to them and that my employer's IT department was waiting for them to call again so we could trace their illegal activities.

I received a voice mail from this number and it was a Sam Peterson (Indian accent) listing a case number and the last 4 digits of my SS#.  The message stated my case was on it's way into court and if I didn't call back I was going to be in a "big legal mess."  I have no idea who this is.  Are we sure this is a scam - makes me nervous with a case number and my SS#.

I called them back and bugged the [***] out of them...now they blocked my number...one time i called gave them a fake name and num....they said Yes you owe 1500 or criminal charges will be filed.

I've been getting calls from Sam Peterson from this number for a few days now & he calls several times a day & states that a crime has been commited using my social security & he says the last four.  He also says if I don't call back then it will be prosecuted.  The funny thing is that it sounds like he's reading a script & is in a really busy/loud room of others doing the same thing.  I'll never call the number back just in case there's a toll attached to it.  Really annoying though so I googled the # & this page came up.  I'm about 99% sure it's a scam of some sort, but won't even give them the benefit of getting any further.

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.

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

This number Called my place of employment stating that he was calling from the Investigation Head Quarters Department. He was placed into my voice mail and he left me a message for me to call him back. His name Robert Jacobs. The message that was left didn't even sound true and the call  was very distorted and the man that left the message was Indian.

"Sam Peterson" called me and said he was calling from the "CIA of the US Government" and had my last 4 of my social