213-286-0296

This person called my job.  They continued to call and threaten me. Stated that they are going to send my job information on the fraud I committed.  I told them that I have not committed any fraud and don't know what they are taking about.  They continued they read some court papers against me.  Saying that I will be served with papers.  They told me I can resolve this by sending a letter to them with all the credit card information and the las for digits of my social sercurity number.  They as far as telling me what to put on the leeter that I will fax over to them.  I have informed my immediate boss and contacted Human resources to keep an I on my information.  They wanted $850 from me. When I asked what was the name of the Lawyer Firm they refused to give it to me.

I rcvd the same kind of call.. but it from from 213-286-0298 and a Mr. Vincent Jones and Bob Watson called me saying they are from "First State Attorney's Offices" Basicaly like Tamika they were threatening me the same way. I talked with my wife and she told me they left a message at my home threating me as well. Whoever this is, its BAD BUSINESS!

I'm sorry you have to go through this.. Times are tough enough, we don't need harrassment added to it all :(

This same guy called me and left a message at my work.  I do not what he is talking about when I asked questions he hung up.   Foreign accent same as the other ones.

i got the same thing and it was crazy.  I was so mad because I made onbline loan in the past that has been paid off.  They threatened me that i d go to jail and all.  I know that it is a scam because if i was in debt, i would be getting a summon from the court not fromt he call.    The guys accent was foreign and i was having a melt down then someone told me it s a scam/fraud.   And now they re harassing me like crazy.      what should i do?

To meltdowner and everyne else on this thread - this is scam - they can't do what they are saying - but they will harrass and aggravate you. Read the post by "lamet" under the number 626-380-0420 on this site - it has alot of information about this scam. Report and calls you get to your state attorney general and www.ic3.gov.  Good luck and prepare yourself they will keep calling under different names and numbers.

Constantly harrassed by these people, threatened, scammed.

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

I received a call f/ 213-286-0296 which he advised his name was Sean Watson at my job theatning me that I will be put in jail on wednesday and my children will go to the state and I will have to pay a $8,000 fine to the courts and demanded $796.00 for a payday loan. I did not like the call he would not give me any further information. Then he hung up on me. He was a Indian guy. These people need to be stopped immediatly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i have recieved these calls for several months....after being ill over it all...this is what i did....i went to see the district attorney in my parish, he blew me off....then i went to the local police station and told them about this stuff...they gave me some info for my states justice division, which i called, then i called my phone co....told them the investigation div. told me to call them....they then listened to me.....i gave them several phone no.,s....some are comeing out of india....most calll,s are from california, 213-286-0296....is out of sandiago..near chula vista, and irvine,ca...EVERYONE WHO READS THIS....PLEASE LETS FIGHT BACK...I HAVE A FAX NO. FOR THESE CREEPS.....310-878-4141...I WONDER HOW THESE CREEPS WOULD FEEL IF THEY GOT THOUSANDS OF FAXES.....SAYING WE KNOW THIS IS A  SCAM.....ALL YOU COMPUTER WIZARDS ....USE YOUR SKILLS TO PUT THIS OUT ON THE INTERNET.....DO WE WANT PEOPLE FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY TO SCARE THE [***] OUT OF US.....HELLL NOOOOOOOOOOO.....THIS IS ....AMERICA....

I received a called today from Laura Daniel from First State Attorney stating that she needed to speak to someone named Sandy and that it was an emergency that she call back.  When Laura Daniel were asked what was the call regarding she advised that she could not reveal that information, only that Sandy needed to call her back.  Well Ms. Daniel can keep on waiting.  This call will be reported to the local authorities and Attoney General.  Harrassment from such ignorant individuals will not be tolerated.

I have received calls from the following numbers at work. 213-286-0296, 1-516-232-8905
1-516-232-8935 and1-213-256-0408. They call themselves US Federal Govt, Anderson Associates, Morgan Associates.  The peoples names - James Brown, John F. Kennedy, Daniel Morgan.  I have several voice mails saved and they all have the same voice, same exact voicemail messages. I need you or your attorney to return the call, it is extremely time sensitive. Don't disregard this message, If you don't return the call now _____ and we don't hear from your attorney either, the only thing we can do is wish you good luck and you'll receive enforcement on you.  These are your scam artists preying on the public people that already have down luck. I have been threatened with them knowing my account numbers. Fortunately I have already changed acounts 2 times over, so I know that isn't true. They are out to scare people to see who will give in and send money.  My husband is an appliance tech and a customer received a call like this. Fortunately he was there to stop her from releasing her credit card information. She was shaking, hardly speak and didn't know what to do. He had to explain these were scammers....she felt better after wards - however she almost released $10,189 on her credit card to them and NEVER once ever had a PAYDAY LOAN in her life.
These people need to be stopped.!

I have recieved several telephone cals from these people as well. When I told them they could talk to my attorney the calls suddenly stopped, then they started back today. They are very rude and refuse to give any information out except they demand we give them money. I know this is not real becaus eno collection / or reasonable business agency tells people if they do not pay them "May God Help You"

got a call from this number today saying i owed 858.88 to insta cash and they were calling from first state attorney services and that i was being sued for that amount. called lifelock and the police dept and was told to wait for correspondance from the above party. the person on the other end was probably from india and spoke with very poor english and we had to have him repeat several statements.
the number that appeared on the caller id was 916 395-0000

I have been dealing with these harassing phone calls for over 6 months, I have reported them to the better business bureau and homeland security to no avail. I just try to ignore them anymore.

I recieved a call from Richard and he said that my husband was going to get investigated and there  was an affadavid and he was going to get criminal charges.  He wouldnt answer what company he was from and he wouldnt get a supervisor.  I called  the POLICE.  And Filed a POLICE REPORT.  I called them back repeatedly and no one would answer any of my questions about this so I called them back ALL DAY LONG.........

I received a call for the past couple of days saying that if my husband did not pay them money today that tomorrow at 11:00am he would go to jail!  It was a guy with an Indian accent, stating he was from Sillas Law Firm in California, I called the law firm and they told me that it was a scam!  I already knew that, but I just was investigating the matter.  I finally called the police and filed a police report, I know that they can't really do anything, but I wanted the matter documented.  Don't fall for it!!!!

Had 2 calls  from these a.. holes. His name is James Brown yeah right!!!. I got the number shown up on my phone as 0000 but left message that was threatning and said they could only wish me luck.

10/14/2010 - Again, Had 2 calls  from these a.. holes. They left another voicemail on this company phone, His name is James Brown yeah right!!!. the number shown up on company phone as 0000 but left message that was threatning as stated in previous note. Called them back - told them We have notified you once before to remove the number from the database. Now the number they are calling XXXXXX Law offices and the number they are dialing is being investigated by the local police dept . they need to remove the number from the database immediately. The person on the phone didn't know what to say except Thank you and hung up.  You need to take action and be in control of the conversation, don't let them push you around.

Thanks for all of the information, it's hugely helpful at putting my mind at ease.

Unfortunately I was conned the first time these guys called me, and I sent them money via Western Union. Dumb, I know. Is there any hope at recovering that money via threat of legal action, or do I need to consider it lost?