216-744-2041

called said his name was Bruce Hanson (very broken english) about a loan. I guess it was a collection agency.  I believe this is fraud, I have no unpaid loans.

Yes it is fraud. They did this to me and my parents. They are very rude and testy. They make up a bank name and say you owe money for a loan. You can contact the District Attorney office and let them know. We did this and they gave us a case number. Until, then just ignore the phone calls!

Consumer Alert: Attorney General warns Kansans of debt collection scam

January 29, 2010 -- Attorney General Steve Six is cautioning Kansas consumers about telephone calls from apparent fake debt collectors who are impersonating law enforcement officers in an effort to extort money from consumers.   Consumers are warned to not submit payments to these fraudulent debt collectors.

When calling, the scammers most often state they are attempting to collect a debt related to an internet payday loan obtained by the consumer, but which the consumer never repaid.  Consumers state they have never obtained such a loan or paid off the loan years ago.  The scam artists have most recently identified themselves as ACS, National Affidavit Processing Department and United Financial Crime Division, but may use additional phony names.  It appears the phone numbers used by the scammers are “spoofed” numbers, so that the number appearing on a consumer’s caller ID is not the actual number of where the call originated. It appears the calls in question may be originating from outside the United States.

When questioned, the individual calling refuses to disclose the full name or address of the collection agency they claim to represent.  These scammers have been able to provide consumers with identifying information, such as the consumer’s social security number, home address, e-mail address, names of family members and the consumer’s computer IP address.  Since the callers are able to provide valid personal information, consumers may become confused and believe they are being contacted in regard to a legitimate debt.

If the initial debt collection scam is unsuccessful, consumers have been re-contacted months later with the scammers posing as law enforcement officers or officers of the court.  Typically, the consumer is threatened with arrest for fraud or some other fictitious crime unless the consumer agrees to immediately wire money via Western Union.  The fictitious officers strive to frighten and confuse consumers into compliance by using legal sounding terms such as “We’re filing an affidavit against you” or by stating a lawsuit has been or is in the process of being filed against the consumer.

A hallmark of each scam has been calling consumers repeatedly at their place of employment.  This scam hit home when an employee of the Kansas Attorney General’s Office was repeatedly called both on her cell phone and at work.  Despite the employee’s repeated verbal disputes, the caller refused to provide any identifying information to allow her to send a written dispute. The scammer also continued to call her numerous times a day regarding a payday loan she denied obtaining. Two months later, she was again contacted by telephone by an individual identifying himself as an “officer”.

“I denied owing the debt and refused to pay without being provided validation of the debt. I was then told, ‘If that’s the case, I will have local law enforcement come to your place of business and drag you out kicking and screaming’,” stated the employee.

“It is important for consumers to know their rights under the law,” Attorney General Six said. “If a consumer is receiving calls from a debt collection company and believe it is a scam, I encourage them to contact our office immediately.”

Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), collectors are required to send consumers a written notice within five days of the initial contact.  The notification should contain  information such as the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed and a statement informing the consumer they have thirty days to contact the debtor in writing to dispute the debt or request validation of the debt. In addition, legitimate debt collectors are prohibited by the FDCPA from making false or misleading representations, such as the consumer has committed a crime, implying nonpayment will result in the consumer’s arrest, or using the threat of violence.

More information is available on the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf.

To register a complaint with the Kansas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division, call 1(800) 432-2310 or visit www.ksag.org.

http://www.ksag.org/page/consumer-alert-attor ... collection-scam

It is not a fraud it's a legal call and they are from the lawyers panel I investigated about it and my dad is a cop they also had done the investigation and I found out that those people are government officer

I have received 3 phone calls from this number 216-744-2041 at work in one week. I asked them to send me paperwork on this loan and they refused to. I think that I took out this loan over the internet but they refuse to show me any paperwork for it. They also told my employer that my Social Security number was under investigation and that I did criminal actions with their name and letter head, which I did not. And when you call this number after hours all you get is this is extension 80001 and why is it that 4 different men has spoke to me about this?

You need to do a better investigation. The people have heavy middle eastern accents with names such as "Peter Mclaughin" Mark and Dan Morgan. These people are crazy, I to received a call from that number 216- 744-2041 and said they were from legal department. I'm so done with these evil crazy people. Now every time I hear a middle eastern voice I get so paranoid. I never owed any payday loans and they keep calling me and my family with threatenting tactics.

216-744-2041 also called me. They are a scam, scam ,scam..please make them stop!!

no, guys they aint a scam.. i was abt. to be sued as fortunately i resolved the case. my bank statement reflects with the Legal Investigation Dept. These ppl follow FDCPA... thhink again guys...

This has got to be a scam.  When I try to call the number back all I get is a busy signal!  Very frustrating!

that is a lie these people do not follow fdcpa laws and are a fraud

It must not be that important if they dont leave a message, thats how I look at it

No one can call you up and threaten you to collect money. This must be done through the court system. And if you have no documentation on the  said amount to be collected, you have every right to refuse unless you have documents. Check the BBB for information on how collection agency's are to collect. They will not use a lawyer to contact you over the phone. It will be done though the mail.

They called me a few minutes ago with garbled CNAM data. I almost wish they'd call again so I could mess with their heads.

In fact, I think all fraudster calls I get from now on will be answered by any funny accent I can muster, like Bruce McBrucerson, the real Australian who works for Australian Tellyphone and Tellygraph.

"G'day! My name is Bruce McBrucerson, of Australian Tellyphone and Tellygraph! I'm callin' yah to remind yah that y've an outstandin' balance with us, and if ye don't pay us what's owed, we'll lash ye to the west end of an eastbound roo!"

I get alot of crazy phone calls, but I let the answering machaine take the message.But a lot of them don't leave messages.So it can't be very important.Don't answer.

I just had these people call me and say they are with Dominion East Ohio Gas company so which one is it?

ya i got that call its a scam i looked up the area code says its from cleveland but they got my anwering machine and i googled the number on my COMPUTER before anything. im not easily fooled.. didnt look legit at all my caller id it had some scrambled numbers and letters as the caller... im from ohio and ther's no way i owe any loans... stoped over seas people think we are stoped.

Same here with (216) 744 - 2041 and Dominion.
Says CallCentric Inc, in my caller ID. When they called, I made an excuse to have them call me back in a few minutes (so I could be ready to look-up info via the web -- not a perfect idea; but, a little better at least.)
They called on behalf of Dominion East Ohio Gas. The rep (Courtney) sounded culturally 'African-American' (due to certain speech patterns/tone/cadence/tambre/etc..) but NOT thickly so -- very understandable in English. She said she was with DEOG and wanated to lower my gas rate from 6.5% to 5.94%.
She listened carefully as I questioned her about pertinent 'Gas-Business' info (from their side of the coin and mine.) Example:
"...if your with DEOG, then why call me to offer me a better rate. Why not just pass the better rate on to me, and then, tell me about it in my next bill, as a sort of, '...passing the savings on to you...' type of thing... hmmm?"
[concerning her wanting me to dig-up my latest bill and "confirm information" (translate that as: give her information for HER to confirm)] "...if your with DEOG, then don't you have MY info in-front of you right now? Why don't you give ME the info and I'LL confirm IT?!?"
When I indicated my "Identity Theft AND Scam" concerns (interjecting the "CallCentric Inc" Caller-ID info that I mentioned above) she said that "...part..." of her business represented gas- -buyers/-reseller.
When she mentioned (in an effort to put MY mind, "at-ease," no doubt) that she (and the "automated-confirmation-system") would be, "...recording my response(s)..." and that I would be, "...sent follow-up, confirmation and other info... ...in the mail...," I told her that, "...from YOUR end that sounds good; but, from my end; it does NOT satisfy the requisite of confirming (with some certainty) that you are NOT an elaborate scam-artist, pumping-me for info.
At this juncture, she put her boss/supervisor (Jason) on.
He was "Caucasian" sounding (by the same criteria as above) and seemed overly-gracious (as many sup's are) to help, "...bring this to a close..." and yet STILL "...make the sale."
I gave him the "short and skinny -- Reader's Digest" version of my IT/Scam concerns. He said, "...I don't want to get in trouble... ...I don't think I'm allowed to give-out too much of this information, but..." [and, concerning the "CallCentric Inc" Caller-ID info] "We represent many different industries, such as, collections, energy buyers/suppliers, et cætera..." "I don't know how to address your concerns, such that we can get the information we need from you to get you the better rate, except to transfer you to the 'automated-confirmation-system' -- which you DON'T have to reply to -- to show you 'SOMETHING' that indicate that we ARE legit."
I thanked him for his candor and graciousness and told him that until I could be sure, "...I'm affraid you'll have to consider me as: 1) not 'on-board' with your plan, and 2) withholding-of/securing my PII (Personally Identifiable Information)..."

MY (impromtu) CONCLUSION (considering my limitted recon on the net -- BBB, reverse # look-up, search-engines, websites, et cætera):

The BBB has two listings for (the US search of) "callcentric." They are:

"CALLCentric" is an "Internet/Phone Service provider" (as indicated at their dot-com) based-out of Orlando, FL. They are rated B- (on a scale from A+ to F) due SOULLY because they are NOT BBB accreditted; and therefore:
• *¹» "BBB... [lacks] ...sufficient [longevity] information..." «*¹
• *²» "BBB... [lacks] ...sufficient background information..." «*²
With one "Product Issue" complaint as "unpursuable" (closed within the last 36 months -- BBB's reporting period.)

And

"Callcentric" is a "Telemarketing Services" (with no "common-access" website known) based-out of 11 Broadway, Suite 1015, NYC, NY. They are rated F because they are NOT BBB accreditted; and therefore:
• *¹ (See above)
• *² (   "        "     )
AND because they have two complaints (one "Product Issue," one "Service Issue") as "not-responded-to" (closed within the last 36 months.)

MY TAKE IS:
They are a legitimate (albeit, barely; as this STRETCHES the definition a bit) business that uses/employs bad-business strategies/tactics that are nefarious, under-handed, misleading, and disreputable therefore leading to their being abusive, non-accountable, obnoxious, and possible swindlers; AND that lends the business itself (as well as their employees, privately) to being "confidence-tricksters," "scam-artists" and "Identity-Theives" on-TOP-of any "legitimate" services that they provide to their "clients." After all... ...SOMEONE must find them useful enough to actually "pay" them for what they do.

A little long-winded I know; but, I hope it helps, none the less.
However, (as always) PLEASE look-this-stuff-up for yourself -- don't trust me!
Blindly trusting IS part of the potential problem on OUR (the publics') part.

I agree... ...a bit (See above comment by me.)

But, FYI (ONLY so that 'YOU' don't end-up looking "stupid" to the "VERY SAME people" that your CALLING "stupid"...

..."stupid" is spelled "S - T - U - P - I - D..."
...NOT "S  - T - O - P - E - D."

Hell, even "S - T - O - [O] - P - [P] - E - D," would've been sonically closer (than something that looks like it should be pronounced, "stoapd")

Which would normally be a "non-issue" (after all, I'm NOT the friggin' grammar-police) EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT you're TRYING to indicate that THEY'RE "stupid" and that we YANKS are "NOT."

Just a thought (and certainly NOT an attempt to make you look "stoped" -- [cue Homer Simpson] "Doh!")

Spelling-wise, I'm not perfect myself; and even accounting for using a bit of "chat-/texting- -ese;" (not capitalizing, shortening words, dropping apostrophes, et cætera) you still DID go out-of-your-way to use it twice the same way; and we wouldn't want the "over-seas" folk thinking that we're "stupid;" now would we?

;-)   j/k

If these idiots are calling for east Ohio  Gas Company Dominion,  then they are calling the wrong people. or don't do there homework.  the house I live in, which I am not the home owner but they call my number, I wish AT and T would allow me to block more numbers then 20.  So these idiots just could not call.  I do not answer anyway.  and they leave no message so they waste there time.
The house I am in is all electric so DUH on there part.  No gas to charge.   Fools
yeah it said callcentric inc when they called me.
they called 3 or 4 times this week.

This guy is obviously one of them, he doesn't even type correctly.