310-405-6167

A man I could hardly understand telling me I am getting sued by some bank for a loan I never even took out??? Help what in the world??

I received a call from this number last night, 8/4.  A man with an Indian accent told me that I was being sued by US National Bank for not paying back a payday loan.  He said that I had to pay $5,400 to avoid being arrested at my job.  He asked me to fax my attorney information to him.  He could not understand why I was not aware that I was being sued, but no papers had been served on me and I don't even owe a payday advance in the first place.  He said that if I did not return the call to him that he wished me good luck as the situation unfolds on me.  He said that if I didn't pay him this money, then I would be arrested at my job at any time.  He said he is with the Legal Affidavit Dept of US National Bank.  The bank chose to not serve me with papers, but to send me emails telling me they are suing me and he said I ignored the emails.  He also had my bank account number, routing number, SSN number and cell phone number.  This is a scam!  I now had to put a watch on my bank account, may have to close it and open a new one, and also had to put an alert out with the credit bureaus to monitor my credit activity.

I had this same situation.  A guy with an Indian accent saying I was going to be arrested for not paying back a payday loan.  He left two messages on my cell phone and said that they were taking me to court and that they were going to charge me with fraud and running away with money or some BS like that.  I am glad I decided to check into it before I went any farther with it.

THIS IS A SCAM! IF YOU ARE CONTACTED BY THEM, CALL YOUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT IMMEDIATELY!

Here is ec's post with the goods on these crooks:

These crooks alternately pose as debt collectors, federal and state law enforcement officers, lawyers and bankers. They use any number of phony official-sounding names such as US National Bank, US Legal Investigation Bureau, Hopkins Law Office, Morgan Associates, White Collar Crime Unit, Department of Crime Prevention, etc.  And, as Alfalfa's message above indicates, consumer credit advocate Bud Hibbs believes this particular scam is just another Ted Ellis Crosby operation. (Previous Crosby scams include Ellis Crosby & Associates, Bass Prelitigation, States Predisposition Services, to name a few.) The Florida Attorney General recently obtained both a $1.3 million judgment against Crosby and a permanent court order forbidding him from ever engaging in debt collections in Florida.

Though there have been many 800Notes reports about the US National Bank/White Collar/Affadavit Process scam before Crosby was shut down in Florida, the number of complaints about it skyrocketed *after* Florida shut down Crosby. An interesting coincidence that suggests that this could be another Crosby scam but with a twist: considering the scammers' thick accents and very clumsy English, the calls probably originate offshore.

If your attorney wants to look into this, he or she may want to contact the Economic Crimes Division of the Florida Attorney General's office -- http://myfloridalegal.com/contact -- to get whatever information they have on Crosby.

One thing for everyone to remember is that anytime someone calls you demanding money to prevent your arrest, it is ALWAYS a scam. No debt collector (let alone criminals posing as debt collectors) has the authority to have anyone arrested for anything. (And it's illegal for them to threaten such a thing.) And since these dirtbags routinely impersonate law enforcement, it's also important to remember that American law enforcement officers aren't in the business of debt collection.  What's more, debt is a civil, not a criminal, matter.

The bottom line is, these are criminals trying to steal your money. I suggest you do all the following (most of which you can do online):

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 and give them all the details.

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 few 800Notes links with reports about similar scams. Read the reports and you'll see the same pattern time and again -- phony official-sounding organization names, foreign accents (most of the time), and dramatic false threats of arrest and lawsuits.

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

On July 31st, I received a call from Samuel from The Legal Affidavit Office
in Lakewood, Ca telling me that charges were bought against me for Check Fr-
aud and Stolen Indetity. He has received my old Wells Fargo Account Number
and E-Mail Address. I don't know where he got it from and also said that The
Legal Team would be at my house on August 1st to have someone take me to c-
ourt and have me pay $5,000.00! I've signed up for Indetity Theft Protection
through Wells Fargo Bank when I've had a bank account with them last year w-
hich protects me from checks who turned out to be counterfeit after cashing
or depositing them especially Cashier's Check. Wells Fargo said I don't owe
them nothing after they sent me legitimate Cashier's Checks in the mail in
March after my bank accounts were closed due to that over $2,000 Cashier's
Check which turned out to counterfeit. I've found out on August 1st, that S-
am from The Legal Affidavit Office lied, The Legal Team didn't come to my h-
ouse that day! The Legal Affidavit Office in Lakewood Ca is nothing but lia-
rs filing false litigations and charges against me. They're the ones who s-
hould have litigations filed against them and charges! No One is coming over
my house to send me the court or arrest me! The Staff from The Legal Affida-
vit Office should me arrested for false of litigations and charges plus imp-
risonment!