786-539-4784

I have gotten two call on my cell phone from#178600 did not answer (WHO WOULD) listened to my voice mail It was stated that I should call this number 786-539-4784 could not make out agency name,but I did call back line is busy if anyone has any info please let me know

Its a scam, don't call it.  Many phone providers block these but a few get through.  I was getting the calls too.  They proclaimed that I was in serious trouble with the Department of Law and Investigation.  Oddly, they barely can speak English.  You call the number and you can get a huge bill from your phone provider.

Got a voicemail on our home phone from a guy who also could barely speak English with the same proclimation.  The person they are calling doesn't live here.  Oh well.

Some body that can't speak English.
Keeps calling every 2 or 3 minutes.
Must be that scumbag don douglas

Got a call from that 178600 number..claiming they need my ssn due to some fraud and they were from Dept of Law and something. Said his name was Matthew sumthing. A close friend not minutes later got the same call...I warned her not to reply as well. From what I researched it is clearly a fraud and they will only get your money.

I am getting these calls at my work from people who cant speak english claiming to be from the law dept as well. I just hang up!

I received a message on my cell phone as well as my work number threatening me...basically saying that if I did not return the call that I would be in trouble with the American Law Department (said his name was Mack Johnson...right).  Like all of you, I was concerned because one, he could not speak English and there was lots of background noise.  I tried to return the call and they could not tell me anything.  Little do they know I work for the federal government...IDIOTS!

Extortion Scam Related to Delinquent Payday Loans

Washington, D.C.
December 07, 2010  FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

— filed under: Press Release

The Internet Crime Complaint Center has received many complaints from victims of payday loan telephone collection scams. Callers claim the victim is delinquent in a payday loan and must repay the loan to avoid legal consequences. The callers purport to be representatives of the FBI, Federal Legislative Department, various law firms, or other legitimate-sounding agencies. They claim to be collecting debts for companies such as United Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Net, and other Internet check-cashing services.

According to complaints received from the public, the callers have accurate data about victims, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, employer information, bank account numbers, and the names and telephone numbers of relatives and friends. How the fraudsters obtained the personal information varies, but in some cases victims have reported they completed online applications for other loans or credit cards before the calls started.

The fraudsters relentlessly call the victim’s home, cell phone, and place of employment. They refuse to provide any details about the alleged payday loans and become abusive when questioned. The callers have threatened victims with legal actions, arrests, and, in some cases, physical violence if they do not pay. In many cases, the callers harass victims’ relatives, friends, and employers.

Some fraudsters have instructed victims to fax a statement agreeing to pay a certain amount, on a specific date, via a pre-paid Visa card. The statement further declares the victim will never dispute the debt.

If you receive these calls, do not follow the caller’s instructions. Rather, you should:

Notify your banking institutions.
Contact the three major credit bureaus and request an alert be put on your file.
Contact your local law enforcement agencies if you feel you are in immediate danger.
File a complaint at www.IC3.gov.
Tips to avoid becoming a victim of this scam:

Never give your Social Security number—or personal information of any kind—over the telephone or online unless you initiate the contact.
Be suspicious of any e-mail with urgent requests for personal financial information. The e-mail may include upsetting or exciting but false statements to get you to react immediately.
Avoid filling out forms in e-mail messages that request personal information.
Ensure that your browser is up-to-date and security patches have been applied.
Check your bank, credit, and debit card statements regularly to make sure that there are no unauthorized transactions. If anything looks suspicious, contact your bank and all card issuers.
When you contact companies, use numbers provided on the back of cards or statements

http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/paydayloanscam_120710

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

this scmmers are from india and they are calling from ahmedabad city and the area is c.g.road..............

I just received a harassing phone call from a lady by the name of "Ruby Miller" at my work. She first of all doesn't know how to pronounce my name and she thinks I am a man. She said that my name was reported for fraud and that she was calling from a court house. Said that I needed to call her back asap so that i didn't go to jail for fraud. I tried to call the number and it didn't even ring. This is a scam and I will be contacting the FBI and my local police dept to make them aware of the situation. I don't know how these people get our information from payday loans that are paid off in full. I've never even been to Cash Advance America.

I just got a call from them and told them that my father in law is the State Attorney and that I know there is no cases against me and I said do you know what your doing is illegal and the stupid lady said yes.

I just got a call on my cell, my home # and my moms home # from these people....left a message saying they were from American Law Division..couldnt understand his name something with a "m" they say that Im in big trouble and Lawsuit is being filed againist me and that my ss# is under investigation. They are very rude and tried to scare me of course. I call the number back 4x and the first two times no even said anything after answering the line..second time someone said something about he was a officer. I askd what was the name of the company because a voicemail was left for me , he says "for what number are you calling" immediately I knew something wasnt right. I dont know how they got my moms home number which no one has cause she just moved,but iv been a victim of fraud before Im goin to report to my credit companies.

I received a call today from this number; my husband received calls from them before saying he had "frauded" them; Of course we're not stupid enough to let them scam us, but I want to know how they got our info? I want them reported and off of their call list.

my wife and i are recieving these calls its a scam

How do you make these calls stop besides changing your number?? Especially if they call your work place??

Yes, my wife got a call saying she was in serious trouble with the law on a loan she has never had. I called the loan company and no records found under her name. All these people needs to be put behind bars for life. It's so wrong for scamming people. Thing about it, it's not even American people that's doing it.

Thank you so much for this information.  It couldn't have come at a better time for me, as I have been receiving calls from the very people whom you describe.  At this point, I have not paid any money, and I do not intend to do so.  In fact, I have already filed several complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General's Office in my home state.

Yup got a call on my son's phone as well. When I asked for a supervisor he said "I am the supervisor Muther F***er!!" and hung up... yup that told me it was fraud. The problem is they have been calling my son's phone for over three months most are trying to get a James Cudy o take on a loan. My son is only 17 so it's been a true aggrivation.

I paid off a loan one year ago and have never been late on any payments.  However, over the last 6 months, I have been receiving threatening telephone calls from 786-539-4784.  415-363-6680, 904 562-2860, 315-663-2877 As of today, 1/6/2011, I got a call from a Jack, An Investigating Officer to make payment on a loan using a debit card.  These people are known to switch up they're telephone number(s) and name and change their title. I received several calls from Jack, James Brown, Geniune Reneflak, John Smith and I have all the voice mails of them threatening me.  I'm concerned because they called the boss. I've always known collection agencies to use scare tactics but this beyond out of control.  My loan is paid off SO CLEARLY THIS IS A SCAM therefore, I will go forward and report this number to the IC3, FBI, Internet Fraud Prevention today.

I got a call from them and they told me I was being sued, because a payday place deposited $300.00 in my account and I have not payed it back. I have never received any money in my account. They told me if I did not show up for court then it would cost me $7000.00, that was the first call second call it was $8000.00 it would cost me. I wish someone would put a stop to these people.