917-284-9293

I have received 3 calls from this number. The man who left the message had a heavy indian and claimed there is a file with my name and social security number that supoosely came a cross his desk. I can barely understand his message that he left on my answering machine.

I have received 5 calls from this number in the last 2 minutes. I believe it's the same people who have been calling me about a payday usa loan they said I received in August of 2008 but did not even have my bank account at that time. They claim money was deposited and I never paid it back. They have said they will prosecute so I contacted my bank and the police and they simply said do not answer the calls anymore it is a scam. They also call from Florida.

I have received 4 calls from this # in the last 2 hrs. I want it to stop. Heavy Indian accent can barely understand them. Very annying.

It is 9:00 am and I have already received 4 calls from these people this morning.  Very heavy Indian accent very hard to understand.  Same way yesterday.  It seems like every 3 - 4 month I get these calls constantly for about a week then it stops for a awhile and then starts up again.  People get a life and a real job.  I will not answer your calls or return your message so stop waiting your time by burning up my phone.  If there was a real legal issue then why haven't I received any information through the mail?????

leave me alone....I don't have time to play games

BRW1160....what can we do about this number.. supposedly they also have a file on their desk about me too...I owe them NOTHING of course.  I did do a payday loan but they assure me its not them calling...its scam!  I was ignoring the calls...had this happen a few months ago and was told to ignore them by police, etc.  Only thing that has really ticked me off this time is that they called a friend of mine that was a reference on my application...They are getting information from somewhere and we need to get them stopped.  I had about 3 calls last night...told them the first time that I didnt owe them and NOT to call me anymore...then they called my friend.  What can we do?

This number called my house twice in the last 2 weeks. The man had an accent too like all of you guys said! he said his name was Lloyd Freeman and that he was calling to speak to my mother about an old friend. When my mother called back, she got some kind of message saying that the number was not available.

"Steve Jackson" calls me several times a day at work and on my cell phone. The number on the caller ID is 642-214-9330 but he gives me a 917-284-9293 callback number. Every person that calls me has an India accent, very rude and will not give me any information in what it is that I owe. They know my social and my supervisor's name. I'm not sure what it is about and everytime I ask questions, they either get mad or hang up. I have asked them repeatedly to stop calling that it's gotten to the point I take a message for myself. If they were a real debt collector, they would tell/send me what information I ask for and would not threaten me with "God saving me." I have known this for years! lol He has told my co-workers that I will be arrested and have to go to court. Debt collectors do not give this information out to anyone but the person they are calling. How can I get this to stop?

Unfortunately, a scam related to payday lending has emerged in the past few months.  This is not merely lenders overcharging for their product.  Instead information obtained about payday loan customers for collection purposes is being used to ROB people.

The Players:

United Pay (4494 Southside Ave., Apt. 203, Jacksonville, FL 32216-5484) or “TUPS” is the focal point of the collection process.  The company is owned by Piyush and Shreya Patel who use the Jacksonville address as their home address.  However, the collectors all work for a subcontracted call center in Ahderabad, India, call Innovations Infocom.   The call centers are connected through VOIP technology that (a) causes a U.S. phone number to appear in their victims’ caller ID’s and (b) allows them to leave U.S. call-back numbers (including toll-free numbers) that automatically forward to India.  Payments made go to a Western Union account in Florida which we believe is controlled by the Patels or through other methods, i.e., credit card processing, which we believe are controlled from India.

How the Scam Works:

Originally, this was a straight, if obscenely unprofessional, collections effort regarding certain companies' payday loans.  But callers would pretend to be federal agents, bank examiners and other powerful people and threaten immediate arrest unless the borrower immediately paid somewhere between 3 and 4 times the original loan amount.   Payments had to be made by Western Union Quick Collect to a location in Florida (presumably to be collected by the Patels).   (Lately, they have begun accepting credit card and, reportedly, check-by-phone and even ACH payments.)  Calls would be made 20 or more times per day to the same borrower, along with his/her employer, co-workers and references.  Profanity was commonplace and even physical threats not unheard of.  Rarely would the caller identify which loan was in default.  

For the most part these collection efforts were unsuccessful.  Most people realize that the FBI does not collect $300 loans.  Even if they did, the educational requirements and oral assessments necessary for entry into the Bureau would have barred nearly all of the collectors involved in this scam from entry.  In fact, the collection effort continued only because that one person in twenty that fell for the scam paid so much more than was actually owed that it was worth it to the organizers to keep it in play.

But the scam has mutated further.  By purchasing delinquent loans, United Pay and Innovations Infocom come into possession of the confidential information of tens of thousands of Americans.  Because these consumers “owe” on at least one loan, collectors are able to convince borrowers they are in serious civil and criminal trouble over the delinquent account.  Collectors call and pretend to represent the “Financial Crimes Investigation Unit” (though many still lapse and claim to be FBI agents and/or employees of the “Ministry of Justice.”)   Although they occasionally identify the original lender, more often they claim the debt in question is from 2005 or earlier and that the lender was “U.S. Federal Bank,” or "U.S. National Bank” - neither of which exists.  Invariably, they claim “an affidavit has been filed” and demand immediate payment of hundreds or even thousands of dollars to avoid arrest and imprisonment.  

In one variation of the scam, they claimed to be acting on behalf of a California attorney.  However, they refuse to give the name and the "Bar ID" number they will give does not correspond to any attorney listed with the California Board of Bar Examiners.  Even more ridiculous, the number they give for the "attorney" is one we KNOW connects to the Indian call center and they even answered it "U.S. National Bank" rather than as a law office.

Most recently, they have begun claiming to be the consumers' legitimate creditors.  In one case, we settled two loans for a customer with a legitimate collection agency – only to see the settlement fail when these people called the client.  When our client didn’t recognize the name “U.S. Federal Bank” she asked if they meant the two loans she was scheduled to pay later that week.  Of course, the collector said, they were. He then kept calling her office until reaching her boss and telling him that – as the owner of the computer she used to make her application – he was legally responsible for the debt.  Incredibly, her boss accept this outrageous, highly illegal claim and threatened to fire our client.  In the end, the client sent these thieves nearly triple what she had legitimately settled her debts at and still owes the actual creditors!

But the worst is yet to come.  The person that gets scared and pays will be contacted again within weeks with more demands.  Why?  Because this is no longer about resolving debts.  It is about “plucking a pigeon” to borrow an old-fashioned phrase.  Payment only encourages them to continue the scam.  At least one person we know of has been bilked of over $4000.  


What you should do:

Langhorne Debt Solutions is a settlement company.  We can only deal with legitimate businesses that are interested in resolving their open accounts.  We cannot negotiate with a criminal enterprise to which YOU DO NOT LEGALLY OWE MONEY.  

Keep us informed, of course, but YOU should consider doing the following:

1) If a caller cannot speak English properly, he or she is not an FBI or other law enforcement agent.  But pretending to be one is a serious crime.   Hang up and call the REAL police.  Feel free to share any and all of this information with the appropriate law enforcement agency.

2) There is no U.S. Federal Bank or U.S. National Bank, so you cannot owe money to these "institutions."  Threatening imprisonment to recover an unlawful debt is extortion.  This felony should be reported to the REAL police.

3) Unless you used someone else’s identity to obtain a payday loan on the internet, YOU CANNOT BE IMPRISONED FOR NOT PAYING ONE.  We do not have debtors prisons in America and the FBI has better things to do than act as a private collection agency.  Again, this is harassment and should be reported to the REAL police.

4) Making outlandish threats like these is automatically a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  United Pay is a “debt collector.”  Consumer lawyers will take FDCPA cases on a contingency fee so you need not worry about having money to pay a lawyer.  If you are harassed – SUE THEM!  If everyone did that, they would be out of business in a heartbeat!

brw1160.  You have done your homework!!! Thanks so much!  I am being harrassed too. Told them the next call they got concerning my name would be from a lawyer.  I stopped answering their calls...I was supposed to call Francis White/ACS/917-284-9293. I can ignore their calls but now its gone a bit further.  They have called a friend of mine(reference) and were very rude saying they could not get up with me.  The second time they called the friend was at 5am this morning.  Needless to say, she wasnt happy and cussed them out!  Have any suggestions? I do have an "authority" looking into it.  Please post anything helpful for myself and others!

Thank you so much for all the info.. you have certainly done your homework.  I receive repeated phone calls from these people... having different names, Mark Brown, James White; different numbers... all with heavy accents...received a call 2 minutes ago from a "Kevin Kingsley" (917-284-9293) claiming to be from Affavidate something with a case against me for a payday loan that wasn't paid.. I don't have a loan, they even had a bank account (which was wrong). they've really gone too far, calling my co-worker at home (i don't know how they got her number, since I didn't give it out). I have contacted the local police, attorney general,etc. and I still get the calls!  they will call 3-4 months, threatening arrest, loss of job and only "God can save you".. then stop. I contacted a law firm and they suggested telling them that the calls are being tapped by police, so keep talking for the trace. Tried that today , and he kept on talking, didn't seem to be phase by what I was saying... get a life people!  I'm not talking to them or paying!

I have also received calls from these people.  They have threatened my boss with arrest also.  I did not know this was a scam until I just recently read the report about them.  They have been calling and calling and after finally realizing who they were, do not answer the phone anymore.  I wish we could get them stopped.  They deserve to be sent to jail.  I did not receive a call from the above number but from a 407 number and every time they called on my cell phone, it was an "unavailable" number.  One day I told the man who called himself "Frank Jones", couldn't you think of a more original name than that.  Thank goodness I found out about the scam.

I got a call from 646-224-9840 and someone with a very heavy indian accent LM saying that I need to all back becuase my ss# and information came across her desk and I need to call back before something wrong happens to me.... I called and they would not tell me who the bill was from but someone named Keith came on the phone and wanted my credit card # or bank information to secure a payment of $541.00 but would not tell me to who or what company only that he was contracted as an Affidavit professor to get that amount of money from me and since I was a geniune person they were giving me a call I asked for the address of their company and for something in writing because I will not give my personal information on the internet and he told me that they can't disclose their location excpet that they are in washington and that he can't send me any blank paper ... very suspecious I told him that I was not givign them any money until I get something in writing her claimed that they will send it to me ...let see

I do but I don't feel better after I see this is not only happening to me.  The number 646-224-9884 called me during my lunch hour, but since I didn't recognize it I didn't answer.  The voicemail was very hard to understand since the guy had a horrible accent, but I understood to call back at 917-284-9293.  I called back and this guy with another horrible accent said I took out a loan back in February 09 and I needed to pay right away or my wages would be garnished.  Immediately I was angry and told him he didn't know what he was talking about because I haven't taken out any loans besides my car loan and that was 3 years ago.  He then read me my correct social, address, and email which is now freaking me out.  I again proceeded to tell him he better figure out his story because he is not getting any money from me so to leave me alone.  I hung up on him and then googled the #.  These people should go to jail and leave us innocent people alone.

SCAM!!! Called me, my husband and 2 references I have used telling them I took out a loan and never paid it back. It never happened. He refused to give me any business names, dates or reason why no one had bothered to contact me before. I went as far as to check my credit reports...nothing. It is SCARY how people can do this!!!!!

I have also been getting these calls from these crazy people. The number that comes up on my cell phone is weird because it shows 642-214-9336 then when i send the call the voicemail this number immediately starts calling +20254051206 back to back to back. I think I got 10 calls on Friday from that one number and and 6 back to back calls yesterday. Everytime I catch these calls i send it directly to voicemail and i guess that makes them mad so they call back numberous times! I have never spoke to anyone and they have even called my work and fortunately they caught on and didn't give them any information either. They leave the same story that i owe money and I have to call this 917-284-9293 which i have never done done. I get these calls several times then i don't hear from them for a couple of months, I don't know what to do, but keep ignoring them!!

This is the 5th or 6th number they have used calling me/my husband with same threats as all of you. I have tried to get billing info also, with no response. Our local police say they cant do anything unless they actually try to arrest us. Also they gave me at one time a ladies name that was supposed to be their atty., I checked her out she was nt an atty in the state and the address they gave was a forclosed home with a PO box number. I did turn them in the that states atty.gen. and also the Il. state bar assoc. I have threatened them with my own atty and when I do they come up with a different number to call from.

I am so sick of this person calling. Finally I decided to take the call and let him know I am on to him. Mr. Andrew passes the phone off to his "supervisor" Mr. Jeff Wms. Jeff gets upset with me because I asked him to slow down as his accent was strong and I needed to write everything down, since he could not or would not send anything in writing. When I asked him to repeat where he was calling from he said ACS, I asked what did that stand for he asked why did I need to know. It took everything within me to NOT loose my composure as this person WAS calling me at WORK. I explained to him again that I was writing this all down and needed the information. When I asked which loan company he was calling for that to was not totally correct, when I said I would call the loan company he became beligerent.
Finally I decided I no longer wanted to play this cat and mouse game and told him I knew he was bogus, and to please not call me, my home, or my place of employment ever again or I would call the cops. He went to say something but, I couldn't make it out as I was hanging up the phone.

I have received these messages similar to yours for the past three months.  First they stated they are with the FBI and they even had my SS # and my full name.  They call periodically from different states.  One was within the SFO area, another was from Dallas.  Today they called stated they were with the ACS.  Yesterday, I threaten them stating that I was recording this and was going to give it to the FBI.  They also stated that they were going to come within the next two days to put me in jail.  They also called me a "b".  I tried to check the telephone numbers but it just states land line.  I really don't know how to handle this.

One of our former employees keeps getting these calls on his old voicemail, even though we changed the message. This guy goes "I am legal counsel for ACS." So I asked him for his NY Bar License Number...he said "why do you need that?" Because you keep calling and harassing us moron!

This man called here and told us he needed to speak to an employee. He told us that the person's mother was in the hospital in very serious condition and the doctors needed to speak with her immediately.