786-233-3652

this number called and said I was approved for some loan I tried to tell them to put my number on their do not call list but before I could they said F***Y**M*****F****** and hung up on me. Not very
nice.

this number called my place of employment. saying that i had charges filed agaist5 me. why i asked for all legal info. the caller said that could not be done. this is a scam beware

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

thank you for replying to my post. these people have been harassing me since 2009 when i took out a payday loan. i have paid the loans and they continue to harass me. at leasat now i know something is being done about this matter and maybe the calls will stop. there are so many people on here that scared out of there minds because of these heartless corriods. please post this in numbers that have new york florida california and arizona prefixes.

i got a call from this number an a person said they were a collection agencies. and i told told the
person i am not paying. then the person said they would call the law on me. so i say so what and
cut the person off.

Sorry for the inconvenience that the person was rude on the phone call
but we will take a legal action against that person
and thank you for the feed back.

And Sorry Again

Its not Scam that you are putting an obligation over this web portal
that was your outstanding balance against your name that you took out a loan from our company and
hadn't pay back
And that was a call from our legal collection department of GE Money Bank

Thank you and you do co-operate with our company

Its not Scam that you are putting an obligation over this web portal
that was your outstanding balance against your name that you took out a loan from our company and
hadn't pay back
And that was a call from our legal collection department of GE Money Bank

Thank you and you do co-operate with our company

'Jacob Mathews (Manager of GE Money)':   Your threats would be MUCH more intimidating if you used correct English. Exactly what does "putting an obligation over this web portal" mean?  

Now you are trying to collect from/harass people on a message board??? How could you possibly know the financial details of an anonymous poster?

Go [removed:lang] lowlife!

ge money is the bloody scam run by indians yesterday my brother got call n they cant speak english properly [removed:lang] shawn something like that do not trust that guys the are just scamming us they are the  [removed:lang] mom who is calling from 7862333652

how to SPOT AND AVOID


Advance-Fee Loan Scams: ‘Easy’ Cash Offers Teach Hard Lessons
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/telemarketing/tel16.shtm


Just When You Thought It Was Safe...Advance-Fee Loan "Sharks"
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt028.shtm

Admin Edit: "It's a FAKE comment!"
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Even i thought that these guys are [***], and are trying to scam me but honestly today i got the funds delivered into my checking account.

Gee 'sam'. You've been a busy boy today haven't you? This makes two loans today ( so far ) that you've 'honestly' gotten. For Gods sake you moronic Shill, do you have even two brain cells in your meager mind that still have a connection? Get back to your 'phone and continue making an ass of yourself. That's the only thing you're good at!

Admin Edit: "It's a FAKE comment!"
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got the funds transferred to my checking account after paying the processing charge of $250

Good for you 'Sam' er, 'Edward' er, whatever! So how many Rupees did you get in that acct.? Or did you get it all put on a Green Dot card? Go process yourself SHILL!

You got funds transferred to your checking account from a scammer in a stinking cubicle?

Hi Sam!! I just saw some posts by you @ 904-365-7097!! How much did this company give you?

I agree..these scammer [***] are trying to cut the dung cake...as they stink like dung.....

I received a call saying they could loan me a minimum of $2,500. When I asked for his name, with an indian accent, he said PETER PARKER (spider-man). I knew at that moment it was a scam. You gotta wake up early in the morning to fool me!

They called offering me loan of $10,000.00 if I put money on two prepaid cards in the amount of $175.00 each  but said I couldn't activate cards they had to and then they would add $5000.00 to each card. When asked for them to send me documentation Mark Johnson explained they couldn't send documentation until they processed cards they are doing this loan on trust. I asked what company he worked for and he said GE Capital but the loan number he said that was assigned to me wouldn't come up on their website until he  finished the card transaction. I told him I needed 3 hours to verify and looked up the number and found several complaints regarding this company. When he called back I told him no thank you I wasn't interested. He preceded to tell me he had my Social Security Number now and would use it to make sure I couldn't get anything for at least 18 months and hung up. I called back and told him not to threaten me or I would report him and his company. He continued to call back again and again I finally answered and told him he better not  call again and I am reporting him and his company.
It really is sad I am desperate for a loan to avoid being evicted and went on line to apply and only ended up with not one but numerous of these types of calls.