540-322-5175

Identified himself as a Virginia Law-Enforcement Officer

the caller states that he is an officer and wanted to speak to me or my supervisor or manager. he also says that they will send officers to my place of employment to have me arrested or put in prison.  this is begining to get our of hand.  you know that this is a scam because they have been saying this for the last month and with this last call the person said that "i know you are a generous person so we want to give you another chance"

i got te same call and send then $ 2600 i though my uncle was in trouble the same indin got me i hope the law get him .

They didnt cause the same thing happened to me today. I'm just not sure what to about it.

The same guy called me and said i owed 589 dollars by tomorrow and if i didnt pay it that i was going to have a warrant for my arrest if i didnt pay by 1200 pm by tomorrow

The same guy called me and said i owed 589 dollars by tomorrow and if i didnt pay it that i was going to have a warrant for my arrest if i didnt pay by 1200 pm by tomorrow

Total scam.  They called me at work, I asked them what the debt was for, and they said they will tell me AFTER I pay it?  I asked for their business license, because they are the "legal" department, and they wouldn't give it to me.  They told me the San Diego Police were going to come arrest me at my work...  I'd like to see them try... since when he said he was recording it... I asked several times for him to validate the debt, and I would pay it... but he wasn't able to.  We will see if the cops come ...   I'm not expecting the, though...

The same thing happen to me he said i will have a warrant for my arrest

ALSO GOT PHONE CALL FROM THIS NUMBER AT MY JOB ON 9-14-12 WASNT AT WORK BUT MADE THREATS TO MY MANAGER. AM PLANNING ON CALLING POLICE MYSELF WHEN I GET HOME TODAY.

This is a criminal extortion ring operating out of India. ABC News released an investigative report on it in June. The FTC has indicted one of its ringleaders for criminal fraud:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 16512428&page=1

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/08/bgm.shtm

In the meantime, you are going to have to do whatever you can to protect yourself. That includes letting them know they are running a scam and are reporting them to the authorities.

THIS NUMBER REPEATEDLY CALLED MY WORK # AND HARASSED ME BY CALLING ME OFFENSIVE NAMES. SAYING HE WAS ISSUING A WARRANT FOR MY ARREST.

I got a call from this number,he stated that he was an officer for BCI (bureau of criminal investigation) he said his name was Stephanie King

On September 18 and 19, 2012. The same people have been calling us here at work for 2 days. When we told him the person he was asking for no longer worked here he started saying some very vulgar things to us. Talking about licking and sucking and doing horrible things to us all. he was screaming. We thought it was just one crazy person buy then there were 3 men on the line and they had all 3 of our phone lines tied up by calling us every 30 seconds. They talk with a strong accent obviously from the Middle East somewhere but they use American names. He called for 2 days straight. He has not called today thank goodness. I told them we were going to call the police, FBI and FCC. Maybe that made them quit. These guys are such perverts.

I to got a phone call from this number and he was stating his name as officer robert from virgina (BCI) that i owe $629 and that if I didnt pay by noon that i was gonna get arrested by the authorites.  I would like to see him try.. I have debt but i am making monthly payments.  What a jerk trying to scam people he needs to get a job!!!!

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 just got the same call and I told him it was a scam and that I was reporting them to the FBI.

Received several calls from this number yesterday (even at my job).  He stated he was an officer of some sort and that I would be arrested today if I did not take care of this debt.  A woman also called with this number and said she was with a local law enforcement agency in my state and they would be at my home to arrest me in 20 minutes.  Needless to say, I had a few choice things to say to both of them, but they continued to call.  Has this happened to anyone else?

Does anyone know if this number is associated with QXLonline payday lender?

" Officer John Harris" called both my job and home phone stating that he was an BCI officer and that I have 3 Felony charges against me, requesting me to send $1,589 or I would have to spend 9-18 months in jail. I contacted my bank, the Better Business Bureau, and Attorney General's Office. I refuse to pay some money to people I don't know for and alleged debit I didn't incur. I SAW THE ABC NIGHTLY NEWS STORY!!

It has happen to me to the called me two.days in a row saying the same thing