732-508-7334

Caller stating he is from the Financial Crime Investigations Bureau (no such thing) and asking about social security numbers and phone numbers dates of birth and places of employment

My company has received three calls from this person.  He is obviously not an officer even though he claims to be.  His accent is so strong that I cannot tell what he says his name is, who he is looking for or why.  He gave out, over the phone, the last four numbers of the SS# of the person he said he was looking for. I checked and the area code says New Jersey.  At first I thought it was a scam from overseas. When I called back, this guy answered the phone - with no business name.  When I said I wanted to talk with a supervisor he hung up on me.  He did make threats of jail time, etc. to whoever he was trying to contact. I have it saved on call notes if anyone is working on a case against this guy/company.

The man with this phone number sounds like a debt collector, but calls himself an officer and leaves detailed charges that might be filed against the subject he is calling.  He gives out the last four of the SS# and the address of the person he is looking for.  He is calling a business number.  I thought it was a scam and ignored it.  He has called back three days in a row.  His tone of voice is threatening and intimidating. He could frighten someone into calling.  When I checked that the area code was in the states, (New Jersey) I called to tell them to stop the calls.  He answered with "hello, who's calling".  No business name or anything.  He would not give any info about who he was or who he worked for.  When I asked for a supervisor he hung up on me. I have the phone calls recorded and will be glad to help in anyway I can to put an end to this sort of threatening debt collector call.

I've received several calls from Florida number 321 275 5254 but the man who left the message told me to call him back at 732 508 7334.  As stated before, this guy is extremely intimidating!  I ended up calling back after several voicemails were left at my job.  He stated that I owed some money to someone and if I didn’t pay, I’d be arrested, so of course I called back.  He stated my ssn# but with his very heavy accent, I could hardly understand him.   He started to immediately ask me for payment information, credit card or debit card number. When I asked him if I could get some paperwork to be faxed or mailed to me before I made any payments, he told me I’d get that information once I paid the total balance that I owed.  To me, this seemed a little sketchy.  He said I was being charged for fraud.  Due to his heavy accent, I asked him to repeat some things but he totally ignored me and continued to talk.  After multiple times of me asking his name, he FINALLY told me his name was Officer Jack Sparrow, before he hung up.  Now, I’m not one to stereotype, but he did NOT sound like someone named JACK SPARROW, more like someone from India or Aghanistan or something! If anyone else has any information on this, please feel free to contact me to tell me your story...ldytaz211@yahoo.com

I recieved and returned this same phone call to a man who answered the phone hello, which was my first tip off that this was not a professional business. The man that appeared to have a heavy accent and began threatening me with a $4100.00 court and legal fee lawsuit and a fraud investigation from the FBI if I didn't offer to resolve the matter immediately and give him my personal information and account number with credit info for him to process payment at that moment. I reversed the conversation by heavily questioning him about who he worked for and told him that I would contact the BBB and the Attorney General's office to report him for what I considered to be a scam and illegal activity. He then got very dramatic and I hung up on him, because I could tell he was not a professional for any company and he was simply full of [***]. I tried to call the number back the next day and it said the number was not available.

Got a very threatening voicemail and returned the call the next morning.  He answered the phone just like the other posts.  He made very obscene remarks and told me he will remove me from his call list.  Something needs to be done about these men.  Keep posting people.

I received the same phone call from this guy and and he claimed he was an officer and I was being investigated about fraud. He said that I needed to pay my debt in full or I would be arrested. That is what made me realize that these guys were scammers. You don't get arrested for not paying a bill. You get sent to a debt collection agency. So I called him back and told him I had a message left to me from Alex Stevens about paying a bill. I told him my name was, and pardon my french, "Jack Mehoff". I also gave him a random phone number as he requested my number. Then I told him if he had my account pulled up and he said that he did and I needed to pay $400. That was 100% proof that these guys are out there scamming people. I told him to go F*** himself and he hung up. I have reported these numbers to a website for scamming but there number still works. So the only thing I could do to make me feel better was to call them and prank them everyday. I make them go through the whole process then I curse them. It takes me an hour to get to work so I call them the whole way there. The other number for them is (321) 275-5254. I suggest you try and call them back with a fake name so you can see for yourself that these guys are scammers.

I received a call from this number and the guy said his name was officer mark thomas and that i would b legally prosecuted in a courthouse. his accent was so thick i could hardly understand him. he said i had a debt with some company called quick gas or first gas something like that and that i owed money but never said how much. i hung up on him but so far have not heard back from him. he called me 2day at 1:47 pm! what  can i do 2 get him 2 quit calling me and wasting my valuable airtime since it is kind of expensive? he has called me every day since 8-23-10. getting tired of hearing his voice on my voicemail. maybe i should call him every day and threaten him see how he likes it!!

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

Same thing as all of the above.  Caller said his name was Mark Thomas.  I could not understand most of the message due to the heavy Indian accent.  I called back they just answered with 'hello'.  I will not be answering if this number calls again.

My mother who is 73 and had a major stroke  got that call i got on the phone with them and told them about her condition and they hung up. but i did teach them some new words in english. I don't think they will call back!

Yes i have received calls from this person claiming that i owe them money!!!!!!

Received two calls from this individual. Claims he is an officer with the Financial Crimes Prevention Division. Also claims his name is Eric Worther ( I think ). Planning on calling him back in the morning as I AM A FEDERAL OFFICER! Planning on informing him that it is against the law to impersonate on officer. Will write more in the next day or so.

Pardon me, I meant to write " impersonate AN officer" not on officer. It's late. Good night.

well i was and my little brother was contacted by a Darrick Cooper (more like Oshama Bin Laden) and we contacted the police to make a report and was told that it is not illegal to say you are a officer just to represent yourself as one in a public setting. so who knows really.

Yes I also received 3 phone calls from an "officer" from some kind of law enforcement department; its almost impossible to understand him because of his accent.  He said his name was officer Eric something and  that he needed to verify some information. I would not agree to anything before he could tell me the name of his company, in which he persistantly handed the phone to another guy and just repeated the same questions. They claimed to say I owe them money for some cash advance loan and that I will be taken to court or jail. After the first 2 attempts to talk and answer their questions, the main guy called my phone and left me a voice mail stating I will be taken to jail and that he is sorry I have to go through this, he was trying to warn me...? I will be issuing life lock onto my personal information and report this fraud to my credit companies.

Call came in showing 000000000, message left tn to call back 732-508-7334. called back, "James White" with heavy indian accent. claimed to represent "Cash Advance" and that I owed $358 but I could avoid a lawsuit by paying.  (I led him on just to see where he would go with his scam).  I offered to send a check or money order,  but he said I had to pay by credit or debit card.  I claimed not to have one, and offered again to send a check.  Then he said I could pay via Western Union.  I pressed him for an account number and an address of he company.  At that point he asked me if I was serious, or was I making fun of him?  Um...yes, sir, I said Because you are a scam artist