877-407-7498

Ms. Stern called from 202-618-4211 and left this as the callback number.  Said she was with a company named "US Process."  The scammers must be at it again because neither of these numbers are popping up yet, and there is no company by the name of "US Process."  If they were legit, they would at least have some presence on the worldwide web

Not only calling me but also calling my parents. Told my dad he was with the IRS and I was going to jail. I'm pretty sure impersonating an IRS officer is not legal. I'm so irritated with these jerks. Said his name was James Sims

i also got a message from a james sims... 877-407-7498 ext 403.  IRT "fraud on a governmental level"...  yeah right...   scammers indeed

I got a call from the same guy this morning. Said I that criminal charges would be filed against me for a payday loan that I "supposedly" made back in 2007. He mentioned something about the IRS to me too. Has he called you again?

I got a call this morning from 877-407-7498. His name was Mr. Woods. he said I had an outstanding payday loan from a company i never heard of. He was very nasty and was making threats.

I got a call from Ms. Sterns as well from "US check processing" but not on my phone, it was my grandmothers cell?! The lady brought up a debt that I do have so I thought it was legit, I gave her my information and she said I owed 690 dollars but that wasn't the amount I owed. Long story short they have been calling me since I changed my account number and they are threatening court and restitution. Contacted BBB and asked for a report. Hope they leave me alone.

Got a call from a David Martelli.  Said he would be in my neighborhood and be at my place of employment to serve me, that I would have to have employer available.  HA!

I got a call too....dont call anymore

GOT A CALL AND SAID MY HUSBAND WAS BEING INVESTIGATED FOR CHECK FRAUD FROM A PAYDAY LOAN....Yeah, right!!!  My husband does not even have a checking account and does not have a payday loan as he suggested...I played around with his brain a bit asking him questions about the company that has this so-called payday loan and he gave some bogus name.  I asked for the name of the lawyer pursuing this fraudulant check against my husband, he would not answer me, just told me that I needed to get $960. and some change to them by Mastercard, Visa or debit card. I also had asked him for my husband's last four of his social security number and the last four of the bank account number, he said "I don't have to provide you with any information, just know that if you do not cooperate with us you have to deal with the legalities of this.  And when I asked him for his company name, he responded to me that he would bring the amount down to six hundred something, but when I refused to give any information to him, he said "good luck to you and your husband and hung up the phone.

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

Same here threating picking me up at work, and etc. This isn't the first time I have dealt with this idiots. Last time filed a police report. When officer asked for their address they hung up on him. Don't send these idiots a dime. Tried to impersonate FBI.

I got a call from these number from Andrew Thomas.  He was very serious sounding talking into my vm with private information even the last four of my Social!!!  I have never gotten a payday loan or even have a checking account in years.  Stating I was going to be served cease and desist which didnt make since.  I figured it was a scam so I deleted the message.  Then the same night he called my MOM. stating I wrote bad checks and was going to be arrested for check fraud and I had a clean criminal BG and that he didnt want to see me get into trouble and I needed to take care of this giving partial personal info to my mother.  I am pretty sure giving your personal info to someone else isnt right either.  I then looked up the number and found all this and No company info at all for a business called "United Check Processing' Dont fall for this scam!!! I told my mother I wasnt in any trouble my parents are older and worry Im an adult in my 40's I dont think my parents need the stress of a scam like this! I told her to tell them to take her number off the list or she would report them.  I hope they dont call her anymore!

I got call from Dave Martelli he left a voicemail for my husband, saying he would be over to our residence to deliver some papers which would need a signature. If he was unsuccessful he states he would come to his place of employment and would need a witness to sign also...I guess we will see what happens....

My father just got a call from this number.  They said he needed to cease and desist, and he was involved in a check kiting scam  They used the names Tom Green and Andrew Thomas.  He called me thinking it was legit, but I found that many others are also  getting these calls.  SCUMBAGS!!

Got a call from James Hamillton (or something) threatening to have to pay a debt from several years ago and I could have my record cleaned by paying around $1000--said they would collect for a Susan Hellman at US Processing. Have also been getting calls from East Indian accented men
threatening me saying one was Sgt. ZRon Johnson and they were filing 5 criminal counts of fraud.
I immediately checked the court, district attorney, and police filed a case.
This is all bogus--once they get your number they keep on threatening and calling as much as 25 times a day or more. I had to cancel my phone number and started using a new back up cell phone,
but some of them have already started to call that number, too.

Also getting messages from US Processing at 202 618 4211-Susan Hellman and Sgt Ron Johnson
and James Hamilton at 877 407-7498 ext. 402, and Brown Williams at 214 613 9123 case number 60839. None of these are legit. When I pressed for more information from them, they all backed off and hung up.

This people has gone to far. They have been calling my place of work from 202 618 4211 and 1 877 407 7498, they even went as far as contacting the HR dept. I'm glad they contacted me before they gave them any info about me. I had reported them and I also called them and told them that they are under investigation. I even located the number and they are not even in the US. Don't fall for this. They got into my bank acct which I closed.

I had them call me and you can look at June 11th and see my entry above...it has gone as far as them calling people that I don't even know and harassing them about me and saying they are going to press charges against them if they do not cooperate with them. THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR AND I AM PISSED!!!!!  Need some advise to get this to stop.  Please!!!

Just block their numbers or ignore them. Their harassment threats etc are all fake even though it seems annoying or intimidating. They are all cowards who call people with numbers other than their own.

This is a scam. Don't give them any info even though they threaten you with a court case.

They called my mother and then they called me saying there is a court case against me and they want to settle out of court. My mother is older and not well. She doesn't need this crap.

http://www.bbb.org/cincinnati/business-review ... lia-oh-90007047