410-397-0004

I received a message where the individual represents themself as a CA. policeman with a warrant for my arrest. When I called back ( Jack Dawson) I iearned that this was a credit agency.

I recieved a call saying that i will get lock up because im doing fraud and that I have a loan which i dont that i didnt pay he also had a indian accent this guy needs to be reported cause it makes no since i think he is a fraud to be honest

I got a call form a Indian guy named Jason saying there was a warrant for my arrest and that I would need to appear in court next week. He said it was for loan from a payday place. I contacted the company this morning and I have no record of any loan from me. Also don't you think if this was legimate you would get something registered in the mail

Got a call from 911 number stating they were from the police office and  that someone complained about me.  They told me to call someone names michael washington........what a scam.......

Same call say g from PA police department. And to cal Mr Washington. Its a scam. Police departments dont call about bills!

Received a call from a female saying that her name is Michelle Jones and that she is from the Alabama State police. She informed me that there was a fraud case against me and that I needed to call John Murphy at 410-397-0004 concerning my case. I ask this female if there was a number that I could call her back if I could not reach him, she told me no because she would be to busy to talk to me. She then stated that if I called him that he would then call her to inform her of our conversation.

I got a call to call jack dawson so i did he has an accent i told him i was on my way to the police station and he got mad a yelled . I told him 2 be a man and get a job quit try to get a hand out he hung up . What a loser.

Phantom Debt Collectors From India Harass Americans, Demand Money

By BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) , CINDY GALLI and MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk)
June 7, 2012

Hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped Americans have been targeted by abusive debt collectors operating out of overseas call centers suspected of links to organized crime in India, law enforcement officials told ABC News.

The calls are part of a massive scam, one that appears to target struggling Americans -- especially those who have gone online to apply for payday loans. Armed with personal information from those pilfered applications, the threatening callers, who claim to be debt collectors poised to initiate legal action, have managed to pry loose millions of dollars from their victims -- even when the victims never owed money in the first place.

"This is what we call a phantom debt collection scam," said Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. "It's a very pernicious and innovative new fraud."

Working through call centers in India, the commission estimates that the criminals have dialed at least 2.5 million calls, persuading already cash-strapped victims to send them more than $5 million. Some have reported receiving dozens of calls per hour. They are victims like Cindy Gervais, of New Orleans, who went online for a quick loan when her husband's car was hit by a driver who didn't have insurance.

Even though she paid the loan off, the so-called "phantom" debt collectors with Indian accents began calling to say she still owed money.

He more or less told me that if I didn't pay, they were going to have someone on my doorstep to arrest me," she told ABC News. "And that they were going to contact my place of business, and tell them what kind of person I am."

At first, she said she resisted. Then the calls became more frequent, and started to ring on her cell phone, and at the grocery distribution company where she had worked for 27 years.

"I was more or less was in panic mode because he told me there would be someone before noon at my place of business to arrest me and take me to jail," she said tearfully. "So I agreed to pay him."

After receiving scores of complaints, investigators with the FTC said they began tracking the calls, and following the payments. They alleged the payments led them to a California company run by an Indian-American named Kirit Patel, and that such scams would not be possible without American front men.

"I would say that all roads of this scam, or many of the roads of this scam, lead back to Mr. Patel," said the FTC's Leibowitz.

ABC News tracked Patel for weeks, from the suburbs of San Francisco to Austin, Texas.

Patel refused to talk. But his lawyer, Mark Ellis, said he believes it is far too early to pass judgment on his client. Ellis, a Sacramento-based attorney, told ABC News that Patel was hired for a nominal fee to set up an American shell company, and had no idea what the call centers in India were doing.

"I can tell you, he was as snookered by the people in India as anybody," Ellis said. "He's a 69-year-old man who is nearing his retirement who thought all he had to do was set up some corporations and everything was on the up and up. He's completely dismayed that he has become the lightning rod of this entire problem."

A close friend of Patel's also defended him in a brief interview at his home, saying Patel was not trying to defraud anyone -- he was just an unwitting, bit player in a larger scheme.

"If Mr. Patel was just a cog in the wheel he seems to have been a pretty big cog," Leibowitz said. "It is clear that Patel was integrally involved with this scam."

Leibowitz points to thousands of pages of financial and phone records gathered by the FTC and filed as part of a civil case brought against him in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento last month. When FTC lawyers sought to freeze his assets and prevent his business from continuing to operate, Patel responded by invoking his rights against self-incrimination. His lawyer told ABC News he has had to be careful in how he responds to the allegations in civil court "because there is a potential criminal action," but that Patel maintains the allegations against him are false.

Federal investigators said the phantom debt collection operation that allegedly benefitted from Patel's assistance was one of several that all trace back to the same small town in Western India called Ahmedabad. Callers use technology to make it appear that the calls originate inside the U.S. Victims provided ABC News with recordings of dozens of the calls, and many of the thickly accented callers appear to be reading off a script.

"Subpoenas have been readied, and Monday morning you're going to be picked up from your home," one caller says on a victim's voicemail. "And you have children. Don't worry about your children. We have a childcare department to take care of the children."

"You will be behind bars for six months," said another caller. "And once you go behind bars, you will lose your job. Once you are behind the bars, you won't get a single drop of water."

William Peerce Howard, a Tampa attorney who represents victims of harassment from debt collectors, said it takes an especially twisted criminal to use threats and coercion to pry money from someone who is already struggling financially

"These guys really are the most visible villains in America today," he said. "They make a living scaring people."

Mark Merola, of Florida, said he just panicked when the caller told him he might be arrested at the deli where he works in a Florida retirement community.

"I was nervous. I didn't want to embarrass myself, my family," he said. He used his debit card to pay the collector $576.

Afterwards, he says he realized "how stupid I was."

"It just happened so fast," he said. "I got scared."

Leibowitz said he hopes with more attention, future potential targets of the scam will recognize red flags before they turn over any money.

If callers say they are from the police, consumers should know that law enforcement officers do not collect debt for private parties. If the caller is speaking with a thick Indian accent, but calls themselves by a names such as Officer Mike Johnson, that should be a tip off. And if they're calling 40 times in two hours, that's another red flag. "Legitimate debt collectors, legitimate pay day lenders don't do those sorts of things," he said.

Merola said he would like to see anyone involved in the scam prosecuted aggressively.

"There's no place in society for these people," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/phantom-debt-co ... 16512428&page=2

This company call me on cell phone telling me need go police station turn my self in. Because I am going jail told me call Jack calling another person answer phone with actual collection agency.

Got the same call from Mr. Jason Washington about a payday advance loan and that there was a warrant for my arrest!! I have reported this to authorities!!! Plz, be aware of this number they r scam artist, so for fun i called back and asked for a badge numberand was told oh, no mam, i am a collector for this company. I replayed the earlier phone conversation to him and was hung up on. They r computer hackers!!!!

I got the same phone call letting me know they wete from Florida State Police telling me that I was going to be arrested. I told him the cops were right next to me , he then stated iam going to get a warrant for your arrest. he called from 410 415 3841

A jack dawson calling me on behalf of vince enterprize this is another one heads up he called me before all the others on taking payment from my account getting nasty with me till i hung up and he call and call and call everytime i hung up called him names also cause it was stressing me out now i have a james white threating me Number again i posted earlyer dont know who he is i tryed calling back some very nice guy said he wasnt out to hurt me he will make notes their number is 8447157284. Told him  i filed claim with CFPB agains vince enterprize when a nancy green called and a william from this number alsoa week later this is nancy and williams number 3027030750 for almost a year iam still dealing with this .