951-977-1365

this number called and they threatened me with 3 lawsuits against my name for loans that I never recevied.  They threatened to go into my bank account, credit history and that I will lose my job and get kicked out of school.

I got a call from this number threatened me to be sued with is this a scam they saying I'm going to jail

this guy named Mike Brown with a heavy Indian accent called me at my job telling me that he is with the u.s.states attorneys office. He told me that i was being sued and that I need to speak with him asap about this matter. Once I started asking him questions he hung up.Its a scam these that these Indian or Pakistanis keep trying to run on people they also call from a 954 889 6946 number saying that there going to put out a warrant for my arrest if I don't pay up.

These people are calling my job and cell threatening me with lawsuits and losing my job! Threatening my family and references for what I do not know. File a complaint with the FTC and Attorney General in your state to shut these people down. It is for a Mark Anderson attorney!!!

Call from this number, and they are telling me I have a lawsuit against me as well. They keep asking me for my attorney's information. I told them I will not provide my attorney's information to them. They won't tell me what it's about. They said "we will fax it to  you at your work and proceed in a legal manner" and hung up.

I know where this call is coming from. First - I never use my google voice number UNLESS I put it in as a contact number on some website where I inquire about information. This is from one of those pay loan websites, I am pretty sure.

I am certain this is a scam. And I will not give them information.

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

I just had a screaming match with one of these Indians. i got called so many times back to back while i was driving. i finally answered  (using a headset of course) and the threats began instantly. i sorta picked up on the BS right away. don't let these curry eating camel f*ckers scare you.

P.S Im not racist and sorry for the curse word. Im just pissed off.

one of these indian idiots called my son at work and told him there was lawsuit against his ssn.Ok does the idiot really think my son will give themis ssn!I wish they could catch this group of crooks.How did they get my sons work number?Who are these scammers?Tried calling them back and it goes to an answering machine!

Keep calling my cell phone and my work talking about I am being sued for a lawsuit

I recieved the same calls. He repeatedly called leaving messages saying I needed to call him about this lawsuit. after he read my charges and I argued that he was full of it I talked to my HR person. Thats when I googled his number and found you.

Has anyone gotten them to stop calling other than paying whatever. They have left 2 voicemails on both cell and work phone. I don't answer. Has anyone gotten anything other than a phone call from these people.

I had the same experience with these a**holes. Once I confronted them about being a scam operation they hung up in my face. Haha. Don't let these [***] take your money or threaten you. You cannot be arrested for a civil matter and the police don't go arrest people for a lawsuit. If they continue to call report them to your phone company to have them blocked, But NEVER pay them to go away. If no one gives them anything they would have to abandon this ridiculous scam.

If you don't answer they will probably keep calling. They are a scam to try and scare you do you will pay them but no matter what they tell you it is all a lie!!! I told the person who called me that it was bull**it and I would report them and they hung up and never called back. Let them know your not falling for thier crap and they will leave you alone. Good luck

They try to say I am going to go to jail on Monday but my boss's mom is a lawyer and they don't have the right to say anything to me so i told them they are Scrammers so told me that they are filing my paper work today so the cops would be at my doorstep to arrest me so supposelly I have a lawsuit against me by this number 9519771365 and they keep harassing me all day and night please someone do something about this number

Got a call from them also saying I had a lawsuit and they needed my attorneys info and my SSN. So I said "oh really what's this lawsuit about, I'm not giving anyone my SSN btw" and he said let me get the paperwork and hung up! Ha! I've also tried to call them just to give them a good chewing but it's obviously a scam.

dear friends,
they are a [***] scam service, i called them 35 times and let them know they are a scam everytime they actually answered. feel no shame by harassing them back. just screw up their day. they said they were no longer a law firm but a debt collector....[***] them up annoyingly

OMG these ppl just called me just now I was scared out my mind crying they said that if I didn't pay that I was going to jail for 18 months and that I wouldn't be able to work in the USA for 5 years such a fraud!!!!

I turned them into the FTC and they advised me to put a fraud alert on my credit reports and contact my bank so they can keep their eye on my account. They said not to answer the phone or if i do hang up. They said if i notice any thing on my credit, bank or get any mail to go to the local police and to call the FTC back.. Wow you try to help yourself in something and it seems like the people that take advantage of people seem to feed on that. Hope everyone is smart about it and either don't answer or tell them to go &^*($ themselfs.

These people called me at work with the same threats.  And they got all my personal info from a pay day loan application I filled out on line.  That's what scares me, they have my personal information.  Their threats didn't scare me because I don't owe any pay day loans.  And they'd have a hard time backing up their claims because they wouldn't be able to prove that they sent me any money.  Don't let them scare you with jail,or that you're going to lose your job or that you're going to be arrested.  They apparently aren't familiar with America's collection laws.  I have a relative who is affiliated with the FBI...and that's no joke. I'm going to have him give them a call.  That should be interesting, don't you think?

Yeah, I also received a call from an Indian speaking gentleman. He called me at work and on my cell phone. When I answered the first thing he said was do you have a lawyer to represent you in court. I was like wth.  He stated that i was being sued for fraud. I was like oh really. So when I asked by who he said some finanical institution. I said whats the name of this institution. He said I don't have that information. He gave me the name of an atty name Mike, I dont know if his last name was anderson or henderson because of his accent and gave me the same phone number the he was calling from. So i called the number back, and guess what got no answer, just a beeping noise. I know they got my info from a payday loan website. They are some fools. I have been checking my bank acct and if anyone else are getting these calls form info you put in for payday loan, you might want to watch yours as well.