646-524-3903

They say they are with financial crimes investigation, for US Cash Advance Dont know anythng about them, want you to send money or they are going to call the cops, cant even understand the guy, Claims his name is Gary Johnson badge #1928 BOGUS!

Got the same call as well claiming they are with crimes investigation. Completely bogus...Gave the guy who can't speak english a piece of my mind and hung up.

these guys are totally fake [removed:lang] people trying to scam people! They asked if i was ever picked up from drug related charges, false check writing, ect. what kind of [removed:lang] is that he said he was an investigator and at the end of the phone call he said he never said he was an investigator.  His name was Sam Nelson no badge or operator ID. You can barley understand this[removed:lang]. So I called the cops and had them run my name and like I knew no warrants for my arrest or nothing on my record. If you get a phone call from them don't give them any information, or MONEY.

just got the same call i told them i was calling the district attorney and they hung up

When I got the call it showed up as 0000 on my cell phone but they left the 646 number as a call back. They threatened me saying I'm a main suspect in "some sort if crime" and I have a lawsuit filed against me due to an unpaid loan. First he said it was $2500 them it turned into $2700 but that they will throw out the case if I send them $250. That don't even sound real. After I tried to ask him questions and try to understand his thick [***] accent, he kept talking over me and started getting loud wit me. After we argued, he told me to "get me keys, get in my car, and run to my attorney because the cops are going to come to my door and arrest me" I dont believe this [***] but are u for sure it's a scam? I know I have no loans owed like that but jus wanna be sure it wasn't identity theft...

This guy with an accent keeps calling me from a number 00000 to my cell. And says that I owe money. That if I pay $592 then it's all settled. And that he's an officer.

I keep getting calls from this number. they say they are ftom the Finanicial Crime Investigation Unit. Says I better return the call or else. They will feel sorry for me. What the hell. Don't know if i should call or not? vety worried just incase it's a scam. The also c all from a number 0000, I don't answer calls of numbers I don't know.


What  can I  do?

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 phone number these guys are using is 786-539-4783. Same MO and their names areJohn Prince and Roger Spencer, heavy indian accents and exact samre speeches they are using on other people.  These guys need to be arrested, prosecuted and deported and if they are in another country, then exterminate them! Prince claimes to be an officer.

Claims to be debt collector from payday loan that I did NOT have.  Threatening messages asking for attorney info. and saying "God Bless You and Good Luck".  Speak VERY broken english.  Gives Amercian/English name with STRONG middle-eastern accent.  ie: Officer Mark Reneiecen, Aaron Thompson, John Adams.  Threatening jail time, court fees.  Sometimes claims to be from "All American Financial" or "Federal Dept. of Justice."  Claims to "downlaod" a subpeona..arrest warrant...law suit..going to arrest me at work...meet me at courthouse.  HILARIOUS considering i actually work for the state level Justice Cabinet!

Got a call from this number, some guy claiming to be an investigator saying i was going to jail if i didnt pay on some loan, which i never did, and when i told him, he was in violation of the FDCPA, he cursed me out and hung up. when i called backed to speak with a supervisor, the same guy answered and cursed me again and hung up.

They called me telling me to get an attourney or I was going to jail for unpaid loans. I have a loan but it is not unpaid I know that I called and made sure with them. I told them that I had a relative that was a lawyer and they told me to never call them back again or they were calling the cops on me. It's a scam!

The call is made form 786-539-4783. Called my work and contacts. Were very forward yesterday. Same MO as everyone else, legal claim offering settlement amount threatening to go to court, no info from them. Found this link. Called them back last night. Got answering machine and laid into them. Told them I knew of scam, illegal gathering of my information. Threatened them with lawsuit, FBI and local law enforcement. Threatened them with lawsuit per Fair Credit Reporting Act. Called them back today, told them on phone personally the same, threatened them to take their money, their homes, leave their children homelss and cars and to send them to jail. They said they would not call back. They prey on ignorance. Just push back telling them you know it's a scam and threaten them and advise not to call work, your home or contacts and they back down.

Same as the rest, says he was a federal investigator and i would be going to jail if i did not pay $250 hung up when i said he was full of #$%

called me and said that they are from a financial crimes unit and said i had a case number and he was a police man named adam schdmit and told me i had to pay them 500 dollars or a bank will be sueing me because i took out some loan from USA cash net which i never even heard of. plus he spoke foreign so when i asked him to repeat something he got angry. i am going to call back and say im getting an attorney and see if they hang up on me like they did everyone else

I also had one of these calls from a 646 area code. (Not true as that is NY and this guy was from out of the country for sure.)  Used the US National Bank as the place charging me.Was cut off and the guy called back at once and said I hung up on him and I informed him I had not. He said don't hang up on me again and I yelled at him I had not. During our conversation I informed him I had three attorneys and gave him a name and false address of one and also said I will contact the FBI and to send me proof of these charges as I would contact the state.. Also to tell me again what exactly the charge was. Mostly I knew from the first few seconds it was a scam and was playing him. I thought the background noise was interesting. Recording of a supposed police station or something. In the end he said,"So, you have an attorney?"   DOH!!!!! and when I again replied that I did he hung up. Out of curiosity I called the 646 number from an unlisted number and the guy answered."How may I help you?" Of course, I hung up. I was expecting to either hear the mail box was full or no answer at al

Hopefully few fall for this scam but I guess many must or they would not continue with it.
I have yet to figure where they got my cell phone number from as I seldom give it out.

I keep calling to bother him he uses a whole bunch of names. Call the attorney generals office and complain. Or keep calling him and he gets scared. But still make the complaint so this person gets arrested.

It might be hard to trace there number because they are using a magic jack. But everyone that reads this I advise you call your attorney general office and it will stop. These are bad con-men. Stupid at what they do, but be careful. They may cause damage to you or others.

The gentleman says he is Jeffrey Frank Jackson, foreign accent. Has called by home three times this week and says he is from Financial Crimes unit.  When you call back you get this is a phone by magic jack.  If they answer it is just hello and what do you want.  I have reported it in the past to the Better Business Bureau. Have asked for supervisor and they say no one here.  I realize this is fake, but will it ever stop.

This number has called my cell phone, home phone and work number for the last 3-4 months. The scary thing is they have my ss# too. I have tried blocking the # but it doesn't work. Does anyone have any suggestions??? They are VERY RUDE and very threatening. They identify themselves as the Financial Crime Division. One time his name was Johnny Depp!!