213-514-5334

Callers from this numder has been calling and making treat to me. Who are they? They are looking for a high school friend of mine that I haven't seen  in years. This is harassment and they will not even tell me where they are calling from.They call me about 10 times a day and they will tell me the name of the company----------or the want is to make sure my friend get in contact with them.

My daughter received a call from some Robert Schmidt AKA(Sounded like a foreign Indian accent) and threatened her as well, that there would be cops looking for her. Anyone know how to stop this. I called back anf told him he was a lieung Sack of S^%$, his name was not Robert or Keith.

I have been receiving calls from this number as well.  They are asking for my step brother but using my last name and not his.  I tried to get information from him but they said it was a pay-day loan.  My brother doesn't have job, they did have an old address of his but they wouldn't give me any other information.  They called 7 times in 20 minutes and when I finally talked to the guys he gave me a different name then he has been leaving me message with.  All American sounding names but he did have the indian accent too.  If anyone figure out what this is I would like to know as well since they don't even have the name right.

Received two threatening voicemails in 2 days.  Basically said that "A compaint was filed against my social security number." and "if I did not call back my social security number would be frozen and my drivers license suspended for many months".
Number that was left was 213-514-5334, name was "Steven".

Any suggestions on stopping the calls?  Caller ID comes up Unknown so I can't send it straight to voicemail.

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

Thanks so much for all that information, I have been getting calls from these idiots for almost 10 months now and it was because I tried to get a payday loan at one point but never did. I enjoy harrassing them as much as they harrass me they really dont line Vincent Price's laugh all that much gosh darn it!! My husband has taken to harrassing them as well since they call his phone number since that is the only one we had at that time but they also call me at work and have been told many times not to call me any more. They like the last names of Smith and Black I had Will Smith call me this last time, I gave him a hard time by asking about Fresh Prince of Bel Air but he was completely speechless. I have turned them into the police in my area although they told me there was nothing they could do even with the information I have been gathering on these frauds. Thanks again for the information you have provided.

Received call could not even understand most of message, saying that I would loose my drivers license or something to that effect.  Not sure of what the compnay was supposed to be very thick accent.

These people are disgusting!  They call my job today alone 3 times!  Now they are "on their way to arrest me"  Funny cuz I work at a Police Department I wish they would come.  hahaha.  Please do not be alarmed nor frightened from these scandalist pigs!  They are a ring of scammers that need to be imprisoned for breaking many laws!  the number today is: 213-514-5334 the numbers change everytime they call.....

Yeap same scammers, I have had calling me off and on since 2005. Again this morning they called....darn I missed it!  They call my work, my home and my elderly mother that just had 3 strokes,(somehow they got her number)? same script card they always read over and over in my message...of how I will be arrested because I owe $$$$ to cashnet.com for whom I have contracted to let know your a scam,using there good name, They stated a felon was being practiced by this fake company.  Cashnet stated and I have in print, my accounts I once took out many years ago all in good standing.
Dear Officer Kevin Matthews in India ...yes please follow my request and mail me  (mail fraud ) and send me a copy of this debt as I have stated many times to guys before or with the fax number I provided to you! Its been about 6 months since I asked.... hmmmmm the police never showed nor did your letter (mail fraud again) would put you back behind bars far longer than the felon 's your scam company is practicing!!!! And you know it.
Now mister Kevin please call me again... I have a blow BLAST horn that will blast your ear drum across the oceans ...and when I feel your listening very closely... oops ? Lastly be soooooooooo careful who you call... I attached a dark HUNGRY karma shadow to the last guy that called me and his family. These little dark guys just love the way you guy's taste even into the after life. Sorry.. once attached and they taste you, its forever! Yes you guessed right you pissed off a practicing witch into the oldest craft on earth and is ...well really good at it!!!!!! So shall it be done, so mote it be. Peace!