214-245-0922

I got a call from this number at work. The caller claimed that they are US National Bank Crime Division and that I have a debt that needs to be paid. However, refused to send me anything in writing.

A former coworker at my old job received a call today for me from 2142450922. She stated that the caller had a middle-eastern accent and identified himself as Officer Joe from the Federal Crime Division (he didn't give the name of the company).   He did not state the nature of the call.  When she told him I no long worked there, he stated it didn't matter because "I would be picked up, regardless."

I googled the phone number to see where the number originated and discovered it was a debt collector with a land line in Irving, Texas provided by Brooks Fiber Communications.

They are passing themselves off falsely as federal crime organization and threatening arresting people for a scare tactic to receive money.  I saw other postings of people receiving calls from this same phone number indicating it is a scam.  Something should be done about this.  

Caller Name: Officer Joe
Caller Type: Debt Collector
Caller ID: 2142450922

This number is related to the Bass & Associates, States Disposition, and the Prelitagation scammmers. Three years ago, I paid a debt to Prelitagation and Associates. The debt was through a payday loan that I had taken out with a JD Marketing (an internet loan.) I did owe the money and I paid the debt. At the time I received the call fro Prelitigation Services, they were threatening me with "God can only save you now" kinda bull. Suddenly, 21/2 years later (at work) I get a call from someone at States Disposition saying I owe them money and threatening me with legal action. Totally Bogus!! When I goggled the address, it was for a Wal-Mart in St. Mary's Georgia. When I contacted the BBB, they were really at a loss, because of the name and address not being legetimate. After a couple calls, which I did not return they stopped calling. Now after 6 monthes they are starting again with with their crap. Please do not fall for these scammers. Do not send them anything!! Contact your local police department and follow what the previous person posted. These people will eventually be caught!

There are some reports on 800Notes that have suggested that the crooks behind the Bass/Ellis Crosby & Assoc./States Predisposition scams were running the same scam offshore using phony names like US National Bank, US Legal Investigation Bureau, etc.

The interesting thing is that the number of complaints about the US National Bank/US Legal Investigation scams skyrocketed *after* Florida obtained a $1.3 million judgment against Ted Ellis Crosby, shutdown his operations and barred him from ever conducting debt collections in Florida. (Read http://myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsrel ... 5257424005858A6 )

The fact that you were once targeted by the Bass/Crosby/States Predisposition scammers and are now being targeted by the US National Bank scammers strongly suggests that you are right -- this is one and the same group of scammers.

The only reason Crosby and his criminal cohorts were shutdown in Florida is that consumers like you refused to be victims and kept filing complaints with the Florida attorney general.

So let's keep the heat on and report them to law enforcement. See my message above from May 28 for information on reporting these criminals to federal and state law enforcement.

ec

This morning a client's husband called to report that his wifehad received a call from Officer Joe OJ)giving a phony "case" number and among other things threatened her with arrest. The phone number OJ gave was 1-214-245-0922.

My clients have been in a Chapter 13 bankrubtcy since 2006 and are making substantial payments to creditors. However, even though it is a violation of Federal law to contact debtors in bankruptcy, the clients have had sporadic post-filing collection efforts. The common thread appears to be payday loan operations - many of them on line.

Anyway, I called back and talked to a Robert Tyson, heavily accented with what I will admit may smack of sterotyping a heavily Indian as in from India (Of course I would be able to tell if the accent was Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, etc.) and after identifying myslef by my State Bar Number - oops! - I was told not to worry and that I would soon be presenting myself to the Attorney General.

He said - after repeated inqiry by me for names, addresses, fax numbers say that he represented "United Legal Investigaton Department" (sic)and that it was a owned by a "law firm," but he wouldn't tell me which. (By the way, Bass & Associates is a name that rings a bell as I encounter them occasionally representing creditors. But, it may not be the same firm.)

Anyway, I am going to encourage my clients to follow your advice and contact their federal and state law enforcement folks.

how do you get them to stop  "officer joe" is calling me non stop.

Update:

A consumer posting a complaint about these same scammers at https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157 notes that 718-831-7157 is associated with an India-based "outsourcing" telephone bank.  Though a reverse search on WhitePages.com shows that 718-831-7157 is an unlisted land line in New York City, information on Debtbuyers.Com shows that that number is used by India-based Intellisourze. (Source: http://www.debtbuyers.com/debtbuyers.asp ) My guess is that it's a VoIP phone number.

This is another piece of the puzzle that fits in perfectly with other information about this scam. There are some reports on 800Notes that have suggested that the crooks behind this offshore scam are also the crooks behind the notorious Bass/Ellis Crosby & Assoc./States Predisposition scams in Florida and Georgia. The interesting thing is that the number of complaints on here about the US National Bank/US Legal Investigation/Federal Investigation scam skyrocketed *after* April 7, 2008 when Florida obtained a $1.3 million judgment against Ted Ellis Crosby, shutdown his operations and barred him from ever conducting debt collections in Florida (Read http://myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsrel ... 5257424005858A6 ) There's certainly a good chance that the crooks placing these calls from India are doing so on behalf of the American crooks behind the Crosby/Bass/States Predisposition scams.

Here's the contact information for the phone bank in India:

IntellisOurzE BPO
701, Sapphier, Nr. Cargo Motors,
C.G. Road Navrangpura,
Ahmedabad - 9. (Guj.) INDIA.
E-Mail: info@intellisourze.com
Website: www.intellisourze.com

A check on the domain name "intellisourze.com" shows that the website and name registration was created on May 8, just one month *after* the Crosby scams were shut down in Florida:

Domain Name: INTELLISOURZE.COM
Registrant:  Pragra Infratech Pvt. Limited.
Email:  ankur.ranpariya@pragra.com    
908, Aksaht Tower, Nr. ICICI Bank
Opp. Rajpath Club, S.G. Highway
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India 380054
Tel. +91.7926871353
Creation Date: 08-May-2008
Expiration Date: 08-May-2009
Domain servers in listed order: ns5.znetindia.com ns4.znetindia.com
(Source: http://whois.domaintools.com/intellisourze.com )

Though scam calls from these crooks have been going on long before May 8, the frequency of complaints about these calls increased considerably after Crosby was shut down in early April.

This is conjecture, but appearances suggest that Crosby and company were originally running a two-pronged payday loan scam operation -- with some calls being made from Jacksonville, Florida and other calls being made from a phone bank in India (and possibly other countries); then, after the Florida Attorney General shut down the Crosby scams in Florida, the Crosby crooks transferred most of their scam efforts to the India phone bank.

If you are targeted by these criminals, be sure to report them to all the following federal and state law enforcement agencies (most of which you can do online or over the phone):

1) The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for protecting the country's financial infrastructure and payment systems from international and domestic threats. Call or write your local Secret Service field office to alert them to the details of this attempted extortion. The addresses and phone numbers for the local Secret Service field offices are listed at http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml or in your phone book.

2) Alert the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov  Be sure to tell the FBI that you are being targeted by extortionists over the phone who are posing as federal law enforcement. Be sure to give as many details as you can.

3) File a complaint with your local police. Most police departments will take a report over the phone.  Be sure to tell them that you're being targeted by an extortionist and give them all the details.

4) File a complaint your state's attorney general, the contact information for whom is at www.naag.org

5) File a complaint online with The Federal Trade Commission at https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

If these crooks call back, promise them nothing, pay them nothing and tell them nothing other than that you know they're a scam and that you've reported them to law enforcement. (And be sure to report them to all the agencies above each time they call you.)

By the way, here's just a small sample of numbers used by this particular group of scammers. Read the reports and you'll see the same pattern time and again -- phony organization names, thick foreign accents, and oddly worded threats that are so melodramatic and ridiculous that it's laughable:

https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-925-262-1327
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-678-954-6346
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-341-4004
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-856-831-0640
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1140
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-410-505-8128
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-917-464-2534
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-210-858-6602
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-775-2121
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-743-1156
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-1402
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-245-0922
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-214-723-5572
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2863
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-718-831-7157
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-904-425-2857

ABC News just did an investigative piece on this particular scam operation. Here's the report:  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5621205&page=1