330-989-2468

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

the guy i spoke to said he was a officer from morgan and associate and he tells me i owe a outstanding balance of 467.00 and i needed tho pay this amount  r else they would have to take me to court and they would take it from there. They have called me several times throughout the day and have left me several message to call them back but i havent gave them any info and i havent returned the calls. I am informing everyone that if u get a call from this number please for ur own safety dont give them any information if they harrase you take it to the police.

the man of definite indian descent calling for my niece, when I told him she did not live here,which she doesnt. He called me a liar. The subsequent calls when I told him to quit calling he hangs up. Today he calls and I told him to stop calling he said "I am going to F---- You and repeated it 3 times. When I told him I was recording him he said he didnt care record and report him. He continued to bait me and I hung up.

reverse lookup identifies the city of Niles Ohio as where number originates.

Got a call this morning requesting speak with me personally when I ask who they were the man had a thick accent, and said Morgan Law and associate. I have gotten these scam calls before and I informed the Man on the phone this is a scam an if it is not you have my cell so mail a letter to what this is all about and I hung up. I got that advice from Attonrney that I know he said to keep a list of all these phone numbers and the next time they call just say you have my cell mail me the information and hang up!!!!!!!!!

Got the sameone it is a scam

This is definitely a fraudulant company.  They tap into US computer systems with a loan company that you have or had and get your information.  They immediately will not tell you where they are calling from, what the loan company's name is that they are collecting on, and sometimes they will not even tell you how much you owe.  When I asked how much I owed, they told me that it didn't matter because I was not going to pay it anyways.  They refuse to send any paperwork to show proof of the dept, and will threaten to throw you in jail.  This company is clearly not from the US, and will tell you they sent you the information in your email, and also that an affidaviant went to your email, which is not the way you receive them here in the US.  They also make racial comments, this one stated "You white people don't pay your bills."  I have filed police charges and will file a complaint again with the Attorney Generals office.  Something needs to be done about these people because they are tapping into US phone lines and computers and accessing them illegally.

A guy name Bob Cooper call my house claming that my mom is being sued by a company called Cash Advance America for outstanding loans of 150 dollars. I am indian and I know when i hear an indian accent. He was definitely indian and trying to fool me with a name such as Bob Cooper. He gave me dokit(docit) number and asked how I like to proceed, either pay or go thru court and take legal actions. I said I wanted to take legal actions because my mom does not even know how to speak english properly to take out loans or use computer to take out loans. And he asked me for my attorny's fax number so he can fax over all the papers. Then I asked for his phone number and told him I'll call with fax number of my attorny. I annoyed him with so many questions that he almost started yelling at me saying "Am I a fool to call from law and investigation department as a joke" and things like that. Then he said i will see subpoena in the mail in 2 to 3 days and I had more questions for him so I kept saying hello and he hung up. I hope they do not call back!!!

The guy that called me today said he was an officer and that my legal papers are being downloaded from the computer in pa to the court house of wherever he was from,  news flash  court papers dont get down loaded they get mailed or delivered. Guy is an a**hole and is a scammer,  DO NOT give him any info at all. They have been harassing me for about a year,  tried to file a police report,  they tell me theres not much they can do.  the best thing to do is get lifelock,  i have it and it works perfectly,   I basically laugh at the person and tell them for the good laugh,  yeah they get mad,  but it really is funny,  to listen to them go off.  just hang up on them.

Thank you so much for this information!!! I am so tired of these threatening phone calls especially when they mention something that I can't quite make out but ends in "your children" and "wish you good luck". There should be a cyber-space/telecommunications law enforcement unit created for the purpose of nabbing these scammers. It may have to come to this because a lot of our business transactions (billing paying, buying, etc.) is transacted via the internet because more and more companies want to save on office space/overhead. It doesn't help that so many jobs were sent overseas which put us in this economic crisis in the first place. Otherwise, no one would be desperate enough to even both applying for these shark (payday) loans. None of that was thought out before and we're paying a high price for it now. The scammers AND the payday loan companies are no better than the so-called modern day pirates.

Got a call today will be file complaint with the FCC see how they like that

Got a call saying that this was a time sensitive issue in regards to oney due on a payday loan.  Total scam threatening to take me to court for fraud,

You would think that they would get a better grasp of the English laguage before trying calls like this."We are going to put you behind the jail" " This is Lawn Investigations" " Have a glad day" etc. are dead give aways.

I received a call at 8:03A.M. on 10/17/2011. Saying that if I paid $400.00 today, that I would not have to go to court.  Dominic was his name.  He will not send me any documentation until I pay the money.  He called on this phone # and said I should  call him at this # 714 983 8179.  Second time I was threatened to have to go to court.

He keeps calling my work - claiming to be Steve Jones from Hector Associates.  We have at a min. 15 hang-ups from him a day.  So I have vowed to call back everytime he hangs up and ask him if he needs anything, and to quit calling our place of business and hanging up.  This last time he told me "That i am in grave danger if i do not give him my name," (in a very thick accent) "to spread my legs far apart as he is going to cum cum cum into them." Then when I told him these conversations were being recorded in order to be reported to the FBI, he called me a dirty bit**. Look, with all of the government we have in place is there really nothing we can do about this guy!. I have called back before and asked to speak to different people that have been listed by other bloggers and they put me on hold a min and the same guy picks up claiming to be someone else. With all are technology isn't there something that we could do. (This is not our first time with him either, he called months earlier with the Pay Day scam and threatened court.)  If there is nothing we can do, then I might as well call him back and harass him.

Just got this call as well.  From 330.989.2468.  Indian guy with a accent making him hard to understand.  Said he was with Hector in Associates and was threatening all sorts of legal action was going to be taken against me unless I complied with them.  I got irritated with his tone and let him know that I am aware of my rights and that you cant call me and threaten me unless I pay you money that I have not been shown any documentation that I even owe.  I stated asking him a bunch of questions about who he was representing, where they were located, what his name was, and when I asked to talk to HIS manager he hung up on me.  When I called the number back I got some automated message about how this Happy Jack Customer was not available and could not receive any additional messages.  I hate these scammers trying to prey on people through fear and intimidation.  Should all be strung up and lit on fire.

I too, have just received a phone call from this number (330 989 2468 / Niles,OH). The guy (with an Indian accent) told me that I applied for a $300+ loan and that it has to be paid right away. If not, he threatened me that a lawsuit will be filed against me. When I said to him that I never applied for such a loan, he then transferred me to a person which is suppose to be their "Attorney". These [***] (excuse my French there) thought that they got me fooled. It was amazing that they got all of my personal info except for one... they have my nickname on their file instead of my real name. Only my friends know me by that nickname and never used it to apply for something (let's say, oh yeah... A $300 loan). The funniest thing is when I heard the first guy just handing the phone to someone sitting next to him who is suppose to be the attorney. I guess the idiot forgot to press the mute button on his phone.

So yeah, I too therefore conclude that this is a SCAM. And whatever they say to you, don't give them more info about you.

I just got a strange call from a man with phone # 330 217 7536 saying he used, to know me from the past through my man (that's when I knew) I don't know anybody that would use those words, Anyway it's freaky to see how people would use anything you do to try to scare you, I think my phone # was taken from Craigs list.

I got a call saying that I was being sued by Hector and Associates (or something like that, he sounded like he was from India so his speech was difficult to make out) because of a Checks Cashing loan I didn't pay off. I have never been to a checks cashing place in my life let alone take a loan from one. They gave me an old address I haven't lived at for 6 years and an old e-mail I don't use any more. Its a little disturbing that they even have this information about me.

I get these calls quite often. I find it hilarious that anyone would fall for it. I used to tell them off. Then I started just hanging up. Neither option worked long term. Now, when the caller tells me that there is a lawsuit against me, I say: "No, there isn't. Does anyone fall for this? If so, they're stupid, but I'm not. Do not call me again." I usually don't hear from them for a long while, since they know I'm not afraid of them and know it's a scam.

Sometimes they'll try to frighten you by reading off your Social Security number. Your SS# is out there all over the place, nothing to be too concerned about.

Just tell them you're not stupid, to stop calling, then hang up.