612-355-1006

I received a call from these guys saying I have a delinquent payday loan and that I was going to be arrested. The Middle-eastern man told me his name was Robert Jones. I informed the FBI.
See also: 415-200-0259

Good. The more the better.

https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-415-200-0259

From: https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-9141:

It's a scam, and all their threats are false and illegal.  The bottom line is, these are criminals trying to steal consumers' money.

Here are a few news reports and government advisories warning consumers about this scam:

ABC News:  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1
West Virginia Attorney General:  http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm
WTAE TV4, Pittsburgh:  http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/call4action/17285785/detail.html
Florida Commissioner of Consumer Services:  http://www.800helpfla.com/newsletter/2008/092008.html

This is a very active group of scammers, many of whom are calling from India (and probably other countries) and are in cahoots with a group of American pay day loan scammers. They attempt to extort money from consumers with a myriad of false and illegal threats, and alternately pose as debt collectors, federal and state law enforcement officers, lawyers and bankers. Their trademark is to use meaningless legalese gobbylgook phrases like "We are downloading warrants against you" or "We are filing an affidavit against you." Another trademark phrase is to threaten the consumer with something like this ridiculous phrase: "If you don't pay then only God can help you."

Typical of many financial scams of this variety, they usually demand payment via Western Union or MoneyGram or credit card. They use any number of phony names such as US National Bank, Federal Investigation Bureau, US Legal Investigation Bureau, Christian Nicholas & Associates, US Federal Bank, Sonic Bank, Hopkins Law Office, CashNet, United Legal Processing, Morgan Associates, United Pay Services, National Processing, White Collar Crime Unit and many more.  These criminals also use many phone numbers from many area codes; they're probably using caller-id spoofing software and/or VoIP to disguise their real location.

The main thing to remember is that anytime someone calls you demanding money to prevent your arrest, or demanding your lawyer's name so they can sue you, it is ALWAYS a scam. No debt collector (let alone criminals posing as debt collectors) has the authority to have anyone arrested for anything. (And it's illegal to them to threaten such a thing.) And since these foreign dirtbags routinely impersonate law enforcement, it's also important to remember that American law enforcement officers aren't in the business of debt collection.  (Debt is a civil, not a criminal, matter.)

A consumer posting a complaint about these same scammers at https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157 notes that 718-831-7157 is associated with an India-based "outsourcing" telephone bank.  Though a reverse search on WhitePages.com shows that 718-831-7157 is an unlisted land line in New York City, information on Debtbuyers.Com shows that that number is used by India-based Intellisourze. (Source: http://www.debtbuyers.com/debtbuyers.asp ) My guess is that it's a VoIP phone number.

This is another piece of the puzzle that fits in perfectly with other information about this scam. There are some reports on 800Notes that have suggested that the crooks behind this offshore scam are also the crooks behind the notorious Bass/Ellis Crosby & Assoc./States Predisposition scams in Florida and Georgia. The interesting thing is that the number of complaints on here about the US National Bank/US Legal Investigation/Federal Investigation scam skyrocketed *after* April 7, 2008 when Florida obtained a $1.3 million judgment against Ted Ellis Crosby, shutdown his operations and barred him from ever conducting debt collections in Florida (
http://myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsrel ... 5257424005858A6 )  There's certainly a good chance that the crooks placing these calls from India are doing so on behalf of the American crooks behind the Crosby/Bass/States Predisposition scams.

Here's the contact information for the phone bank in India:

IntellisOurzE BPO
701, Sapphier, Nr. Cargo Motors,
C.G. Road Navrangpura,
Ahmedabad - 9. (Guj.) INDIA.
E-Mail: info@intellisourze.com
Website: www.intellisourze.com

A check on the domain name "intellisourze.com" shows that the website and name registration was created on May 8, just one month *after* the Crosby scams were shut down in Florida:

Domain Name: INTELLISOURZE.COM
Registrant:  Pragra Infratech Pvt. Limited.
Email:  ankur.ranpariya@pragra.com  
908, Aksaht Tower, Nr. ICICI Bank
Opp. Rajpath Club, S.G. Highway
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India 380054
Tel. +91.7926871353
Creation Date: 08-May-2008
Expiration Date: 08-May-2009
Domain servers in listed order: ns5.znetindia.com ns4.znetindia.com
(Source: http://whois.domaintools.com/intellisourze.com )

Though scam calls from these crooks have been going on long before May 8, the frequency of complaints about these calls increased considerably after Crosby was shut down in early April.

This is conjecture, but appearances suggest that Crosby and company were originally running a two-pronged payday loan scam operation -- with some calls being made from Jacksonville, Florida and other calls being made from a phone bank in India (and possibly other countries); then, after the Florida Attorney General shut down the Crosby scams in Florida, the Crosby crooks transferred most of their scam efforts to the India phone bank.

If you are targeted by these criminals, be sure to report them to all the following federal and state law enforcement agencies (most of which you can do online or over the phone):

1) The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for protecting the country's financial infrastructure and payment systems from international and domestic threats. Call or write your local Secret Service field office to alert them to the details of this attempted extortion. The addresses and phone numbers for the local Secret Service field offices are listed at http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml or in your phone book.

2) Alert the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  Be sure to tell the FBI that you are being targeted by extortionists over the phone. And if the crooks claim to be law enforcement or lawyers, officers of the court or bankers, be sure to include that information in your report.

3) File a complaint with your local police. Most police departments will take a report over the phone.  Be sure to tell them that you're being targeted by an extortionist and give them all the details.

4) File a complaint your state's attorney general, the contact information for whom is at www.naag.org

5) File a complaint online with The Federal Trade Commission at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en

If these crooks call back, promise them nothing, pay them nothing and tell them nothing other than that you know they're a scam and that you've reported them to law enforcement. (And be sure to report them to all the agencies above each time they call you.)

By the way, here's just a *small* sample of numbers used by this particular group of scammers. Read the reports and you'll see the same pattern time and again -- phony organization names, thick foreign accents, and oddly worded threats that are so melodramatic and ridiculous that it's laughable:

https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-336-553-3965
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-909-6789
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-925-262-1327
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-678-954-6346
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-341-4004
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-856-831-0640
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1140
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-410-505-8128
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-917-464-2534
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-210-858-6602
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-775-2121
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-310-909-8245
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1156
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-1402
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-0922
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-723-5572
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2863
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2857
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-858-244-0444

...and many, MANY more.

uurrr. I yelled at the guy a couple hours ago and now he thinks it is funny to call, hang up, call, hang up, call....non stop. about to call and change my number

Hmm, very interesting comments here. I just started receiving calls from 612-355-1006 as of this morning. I only spoke to these people enough to ask who was calling and they hung up only to call me 5 hours later and leave no message. Thanks for the information.

i have recieved calls from these crooks for weeks now and it is really annoying. what is concerning me is that they have my work # and are now calling there also. plus they have two of my friends numbers and apparently the last four of my social as well. nothing fishy with my bank account but the fact they have this info is disturbing. i would appreciate any help

I got a call from them too and I live in the Minneapolis area where 612 is located. As I was reading this page, they called again, but didn't say anything when I answered.

I'm going to report these calls as I do with all of them to the FTC. As I report scams and junk, they seem to stop and I am SO glad not to get any more car warranty or credit card debt calls anymore. Report them to the FTC and I think you will see it works! 1-888-382-1222.

I got a call at work from this number claiming they were with the Chamber of Commerce for my city and where updating their files, but the caller ID showed Albatross Mktg.  I knew it was a scam so I answered a few basic questions and hung up on them.  They then she called back from an unidentified number and started again so I hung up on her again.  The same person called back a 3rd time from 612-852-3650 and wanted to talk to a manager when I told her I was the manager she asked to talk to someone else, I told her there was no one else and she said she would call back when someone else would answer.  Good luck I'm a one person office!

I've been getting calls with no voicemails on my SkypeIn number. I'm overseas, but I have a Minneapolis SkypeIn number for US clients.

When I called back, it simply rang out. I did a search and found a number of forums saying this number is owned by scammers. Thankfully, I can block them with Skype.

This number called me today and no one said a thing when i picked it up. It showed up Albatross MKTG 612-355-1006. Not sure who it was but im glad i looked here! : )

These guys said i won something, the whole time laughting in the backgrown..... I didn't give them any info, but it makes people really think the world is going to hell....

unwanted call no message left

i didn't answer but when i called back to see who it was, sounded like a bunch of ppl in the room in the background.  the person on the other line told me i had won a million dollar grand price, i told him to take my phone number of the call list.

I keep receiving calls from this number asking for a John and then they go into this weird shpeel about Credit cards, i can't get them to stop.

We keep receiving numerous calls and messages from these people too! Ihad 2 phone disconnected!!! My boyfriend called me from work one day and cussed me out because they was telling him I commited a crime and I was going to jail.  Well, I knew thta was a dam lie because if I committed a crime, they would be at my door..... not making threating phone calls!!! I knew this was some type of scam and I tried telling my boyfriend that. I did a reverse lookup and that's when other people were comfirming there situation and calls from the same number. How in the hell did they end up with with our last four digits of our social is clueless to me....very scary!

I just received a call on my work number, this is creepy!!! mthey just told me that I was "ENTER INTO A CHANGE TO WIN A MILLION DOLLARS!!!  on my work phone!!!

i just recieved a call from this number . a guy claiming to be named Steve (no last name)  said that i was entered for a chance to win a one million dollar sweap stakes , and 250.00 in visa gift cards , he wanted my bank account info and job history , ........ he knew my address, telephone number  and the whole 9 yards , ppl. beware, never give any information to a caller like this , always report them

I got a call from this number yesterday. I hung up on them and they called back and left a message on my voice mail. They told me to suck their____. they they said call me back 911 [***]!

I called this number back and the first time it said this number has been disconnected, I kept trying and finally they answered and said I had won some sweepstake. Weird. Im thinking they got my number off of craigs list after I put a posting up.

Today I decided to find out where this area code is from, I don't answer the phone. I just let the service pick up. This individual continues to call, all hours even on Sundays. Claiming I owe some payday loan, this individual also has my last four digits of my Social Security number. This individual threatens me with arrest and credit filing. I told him to file papers in court, he wishes to talk with my attorney, I told him, I am one, at this point he continued to repeat the same nonsense, ninthy percent of the time, you cannot understand what he is saying. They also call from a OOOOOOOO number, this is back to back calling. Something needs to be done about this, it's getting out of control with these thieves.

This number called me too but I didn't answer. I called them back and they said I won million dollars. Same as 'hate spammers', I heard people in the background. The person asked me the name of my bank, my email, and my age. This is so scary. I think they are still calling me back but with different numbers. What should I do? Who should I report to?